Discussion on the findings of the survey by KANTAR PUBLIC for the Yalta European Strategy (YES)
Natalie Jaresko, Executive Director, Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
"One should not make any final conclusions about Europeans' perceptions of Ukraine based on these findings. These results contain many aspects of fatigue regarding EU enlargement. Certainly, there are things we can change and it is now up to our diplomats. However, we should not jump to conclusions that the attitude towards Ukraine is taking a turn for the worse."
Natalie Jaresko, Executive Director, Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
"One should not make any final conclusions about Europeans' perceptions of Ukraine based on these findings. These results contain many aspects of fatigue regarding EU enlargement. Certainly, there are things we can change and it is now up to our diplomats. However, we should not jump to conclusions that the attitude towards Ukraine is taking a turn for the worse."
Aleksander Kwasniewski, former President of the Republic of Poland (1995-2005); Chairman, YES Board
"This change in the way the Ukrainian vector of development is perceived has to do with the general sentiment in Europe, not with Ukraine as such. I am very glad to see these positive results of the survey about Ukraine from Poland. Around a million Ukrainians work in Poland and this brings neither problems nor tension. For us, Ukraine is a good partner, hence the opinion that it should become a European member and join this organization."
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration
"What we see is the general level of support for Ukraine's entry into the EU and NATO. In essence, Ukraine is winning. Were this put to vote, 48-58% would be a victory. The fact that 58% support Ukraine's accession to NATO shows that Europeans consider Russia a threat to their countries and are thinking strategically. They understand that Ukraine's entry to the alliance would improve their security."
Oleksandr Danyliuk, Finance Minister of Ukraine
"Europeans are confused. They have certain phobias which have grown in strength and prevent them from forming a single opinion. They are not overly optimistic about their future. If you take Ukraine, for example, the situation is different here as 75% of Ukrainians support European integration. Most of these people never visited Europe, they idealise it. It is a certain myth for them that Europe is about the quality of life only, when in fact it also entails responsibilities and certain European problems."
The online stream of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) 14th Annual Meeting will be available online at yes-ukraine.org as well as on the websites of our media partners, in both English and Ukrainian.
The official Twitter of the 14th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hash tag: #YESUkraine2017
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