(AP) – Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said Oct. 5 his country supports Ukraine’s bid to become a member of the European Union and would help set up a free trade zone with the ex-Soviet republic.
President Viktor Yushchenko has made EU membership a top goal, and signs that the EU was becoming reluctant to consider new members have caused concern in this former Soviet republic.
Ukraine was encouraged by the EU’s decision Oct. 4 to go ahead with membership talks with Turkey and Croatia, which suggested the bloc has overcome objections to welcoming new members.
During a meeting with parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Vanhanen said his country supports Ukraine’s European aspirations.
“The upgrade of living standards in Ukraine to European standards should be an aim for its European choice,” Vanhanen was quoted as saying by Lytvyn’s office.
Lytvyn and Vanhanen also discussed the social and political situation in Ukraine ahead of the 2006 parliamentary election, the statement from Lytvyn said.
During a later meeting with Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, Vanhanen said that they did not discuss Ukraine’s membership efforts, but he pledged to promote relations with Ukraine when his country takes over the EU’s presidency in July.
“We will do our utmost to set up a free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU and to ease the EU’s visa requirements for Ukrainians,” Vanhanen said.
Ukraine is hoping to join the World Trade Organization later this year.
Yekhanurov and Vanhanen also said they discussed business contacts between the countries. Vanhanen said Finnish businessmen expect the “investment climate in Ukraine to improve.”
Vanhanen was expected to hold talks with Yushchenko before heading back to Finland later Wednesday.
Last week, a senior Finnish lawmaker said in Kyiv that Finland hoped to lead discussions on Ukraine’s membership prospects during its six-month EU presidency next year.
For Ukraine’s Western-leaning leadership, closer links with the EU are seen as a way to offset the still-considerable influence that Moscow has over its neighbor. While most younger Ukrainians support EU membership, many in the country’s Russian-speaking east are hostile to the idea.
A poll released this week found only 33.3 percent of Ukrainians consider the country to be a European state. Most cited lagging economic and social conditions, which remain far below EU standards. The poll of 2,011 people had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
