Arseniy Yatsenyuk During KSF Discussion: "EU Member-States Need to Defend the European Union, While Ukraine Has to Defend the EU Integration Idea"

The four pillars of mutual cooperation between Ukraine and the EU are the EU membership perspective of Ukraine, economy and energy cooperation, security cooperation, and sanctions against Russia, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-16 stated during the online KSF discussion on May 29.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized that the European Union needs to be defended: "You have to defend the European Union in your member-states, and we have to defend the EU integration idea in Ukraine."

There is a very solid support of the European Union among Ukrainians, he added. "The Ukrainian people have already made the existential choice – big, united Europe. We will do it and we’ll achieve our goal," Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.

Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum said there are four pillars, the primary goals of the cooperation between Ukraine and the EU: "The first one is the EU membership perspective. We will not just knock the door; we are going to open the door. And we will be the member of the Union."

"The second one is economy and energy. No doubt that we need to adjust, to revamp, to increase our economic and energy cooperation. We already achieved a lot," he said. Arseniy Yatsenyuk also emphasized the importance of cooperation in the security issues: "You have to maintain the "no longer obsolete” NATO and to do your best to provide NATO membership perspective to Ukraine, too."

The fourth issue is the sanctions against Russia: "Sanctions have to be prolonged and enhanced. Period."

He also emphasized that the European Union provided an unprecedented support package for the Ukrainian people: "Billions of Euros, technical support, visa-free regime, DCFTA with the European Union, Ukrainian energy independence. These are only a few of the many achievements that we got together with our European friends."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk underlined the importance for the European partners "to change the narrative, change the way they inform the Ukrainian people about our joint achievements… Not just to disburse money, but to send a clear-cut signal – "we did it for you"… Russia plays completely different narratives, and it’s easy to "sell" all these negative stories. We need to explain the magnitude of the EU support to the Ukrainian people."

We have to reinvigorate our bilateral cooperation. To breathe a new kind of energy into our bilateral relations, Mr Yatsenyuk said.

The latest Kyiv Security Forum online discussion "Ukraine - EU: How to Prevent Imitation of Transformations and Achieve More?" is organized by Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation.

Participants of the discussion: Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission; Viola Von Cramon-Taubadel, a German politician of Alliance ‘90/The Greens, member of the European Parliament since 2019, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee; Petras Auštrevičius, a Lithuanian politician and diplomat, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee; Michael Gahler, a German politician of the Christian Democratic Party and the European People’s Party, member of the European Parliament; Ostap Semerak, the Minister of two Ukraine’s Cabinets after the Revolution of Dignity and the former Co-chair of Ukraine-EU Association Parliamentary assembly; Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-16; Danylo Lubkivsky, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine and the member of the Board of Open Ukraine Foundation.