Sooner or later, Ukraine will join the European Union. That’s the upbeat assessment of Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Henryk Litwin, who is due to leave the country this fall, after spending an extra year in Ukraine due to the country’s crisis.
And Litwin, who has spent five years in Kyiv, says Poland can help Ukraine achieve its eventual goal of joining the union, due to his homeland’s close proximity and its own experience of joining the EU, he says.
“EU integration is actually a transformation, the changing of a country,” Litwin told the Kyiv Post in an interview on April 6. “But I’m still not completely convinced that everyone who supports EU integration (in Ukraine) completely understand this.”
“Even in Ukraine, society is still not convinced enough that there is no other option, and that everyone should go toward this.”
Comparison of nations
For years experts and politicians have compared the diverging fates of Ukraine and Poland, and Litwin says much can indeed be learned from the comparison.
“In terms of territory and population, you can’t find a better example for comparison in Europe (than Poland) of a country that went through this process of transformation,” Litwin said.
But it’s not only the similarities that have to be examined, but the differences as well. One example is the starting point of each state’s independence, Litwin said.
“If we’re going to agree that the starting point in Poland was 1989, and in Ukraine 1991, we cannot forget that at this moment Poland already existed as a state,” Litwin said. “This is a big difference compared to a republic of the Soviet Union, which was something completely different.”
Both states went through quite different experiences because of this, he said. Under communism, Poland had retained its cultural inheritance and traditions – much more than in Soviet-dominated and Russified Ukraine.
Poland’s cultural cohesion made it easier for Polish society to get behind specific reforms during the years of transformation, Litwin said.
Investments declining
Polish investments in Ukraine have declined by about six percent over the past year, despite there being strong interest in Poland in working with Ukrainian companies.
But Polish entrepreneurs who are still in Ukraine complain about a lack of change in the country. Most of Poland’s investments are in small and medium-sized Ukrainian cities, and many of the changes made at the central level have little effect at the regional level, they say.
“One of our entrepreneurs once said that a control service was liquidated by the government, but the people from this service are still working,” Litwin said.
The embassy is also waiting for the appointment of a new Ukrainian government, as cooperation with the current cabinet has been put on hold now that so many ministers and their deputies have filed their resignations.
Military cooperation
One positive development of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation has been in the military sphere, which includes not only weapons but all aspects of maintaining an army.
The ambassador said he couldn’t reveal the specifics of this cooperation, as it is at the preparation stage. But this cooperation is stronger than ever, he said.
Polish-Ukrainian military cooperation involves an active, two-way exchange of experience between soldiers.
“It’s not just that Polish soldiers are teaching Ukrainian soldiers – there is an exchange of experience (of Ukrainian soldiers’ combat in the east),” Litwin said. “And this is very interesting for us.”
Regional alliance
Poland has also been promoting regional cooperation between Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states, the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea regions.
“The idea is not to create an alternative union – it has nothing to do with that,” Litwin said. It “is to develop cooperation between these countries in various formats.”
The main accent of the regional alliance would be developing infrastructure, such as roads and railways.
But the alliance would also give a stronger platform for countries in the region from which to voice their positions in European and global discussions.
Ukrainian immigrants
In general, Poland doesn’t have any problems with illegal immigrants coming from Ukraine, Litwin said.
The problem period ended even before 2013, Litwin said. And those that do come legally – close to 800,000 – are mostly “shuttle immigrants,” or seasonal workers who tend not to stay permanently.
For Poland, Ukrainians are attractive employees considering their close proximity and ease in adapting to Polish culture and language.
Stronger relations
In the wake of the EuroMaidan Revolution, the cultural similarities between Ukraine and Poland have helped to strengthen ties between the countries, Litwin said.
“For about half a year after the Maidan (protests), there were a lot of contacts, a lot of help coming from Poland to Ukraine,” Litwin said.
Though it is difficult to calculate the total value of financial support Polish citizens provided to Ukraine, the Polish government gave at least €16 million in 2015, he said.
