Ukraine did not receive any assistance from the EU for a year, and the real integration into NATO was actually put on pause.
In his article for the Dzerkalo Tyzhnya weekly, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Konstantin Yeliseyev writes that in the first year of Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency, the process of Ukraine’s rapprochement with the European Union slowed down, while the real integration into NATO was actually put on hold. At the same time, Zelenskyy did demonstrate some success in his relations with the EU at the beginning of his cadence.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy successfully passed the test with the first visit to Brussels after his election. The gradual establishment of bilateral relations between the head of the Ukrainian state and the new EU leadership was positive. It is worth noting the confirmation of the consistency of the foreign policy course on integration into the EU and the signal of readiness to implement the policy of sectoral integration of Ukraine on the basis of “four unions” (energy union, digital market, justice and security, customs cooperation)”, – says Eliseev.
However, already in 2020 both Ukrainian society and European partners witnessed the beginning of gradual slowdown of the process of rapprochement with the European Union by the new government.
Zelenskyi’s team continues to go to the EU for money, frightening the bankruptcy of Ukraine, and at the same time it cleans the reformed prosecutor’s office, the NABU, destroys the independence of the judicial branch of power, threatens transparent public procurement, and undergoes audits of the reform of the state and medical services. Moreover, more and more often Zelenskyy’s team starts thinking loudly with the lips of its speakers on the topic “What did the European Union give us? And why do we need the Association Agreement?”. As a result, a year has passed, and the Ze! team has never been able to get a Eurocent of EU macro-financial assistance. It’s good that the European Union has not yet given up on the “team of reformers” and leaves the doors open for macrofinancial assistance programs, including the new proposal of 1.2 billion euros”, – says the diplomat.