BRUSSELS – Ukraine has every right to ask to join the European Union or NATO, officials from the union and alliance told the Kyiv Post on Sept. 6.
The officials were commenting in the wake of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s submission to parliament of a bill of amendments to Ukraine’s constitution that would enshrine Kyiv’s EU and NATO membership aspirations in the country’s basic law.
Speaking under EU rules of anonymity, an EU spokesperson said it was “the sovereign right of each country to amend its constitution and define its strategic goals.”
“As said in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, moving the reform and approximation process forward in Ukraine contributes to Ukraine’s gradual economic integration and deepening of political association with the EU.
“This was reaffirmed at the (Ukraine-EU) summit that took place on July 9.
“To this end, we are focused on fully implementing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, in order to exploit to the fullest the opportunities afforded, for the maximum benefit of both sides.”
A NATO representative, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Kyiv Post that the Brussels Summit Declaration clearly set out NATO’s position on Ukraine’s membership aspirations.
“We stand firm in our support for Ukraine’s right to decide its own future and foreign policy course, free from outside interference,” the NATO official said.
“In light of Ukraine’s restated aspirations for NATO membership, we stand by the decisions we took at the Bucharest Summit and subsequent summits.”
President Poroshenko’s bill, No. 9037 “On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (on the Strategic Course of the State of Gaining Full Membership of Ukraine of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization)” was registered in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on Sept. 3.
