CRPE Policy Memo 38, March 2013 by Cristian Ghinea, Bianca Toma
The Romanian Center for European Policies launches the report “Realism and interests at stake in the relation to Kiev. The relaunching of the Romania-Ukraine relation” which synthesizes the debates and recommendations around the relaunching of a key bilateral relation.
The Romania-Ukraine Civic Forum Project analysed and went into the intricacies of the differences of perception between Romania and Ukraine through opinions held in Bucharest and Kiev, the options Kiev is proposing for the resolution of the conflict in Transnistria, the common energy policies between the two countries offering at least six courses of action as well as a new approach for the trilateral programme Romania-Ukraine-The Republic of Moldova.
The spring of 2013 will thus be decisive for the future of the EU-Ukraine relations, according to the director of the Romanian Center for European Policies, Cristian Ghinea. Romania will have to closely monitor this issue and to shape the bilateral agenda depending on the evolution of the EU-Ukraine relation.
Ukraine’s drifting away from the EU would make it more difficult for the problems on the bilateral agenda to be addressed, but there are some key points as well, such as minority’s issue, which need to be tackled in a careful and constructive manner.
Bucharest and Kiev should start cooperating at an official-diplomatic level from this point on in order to: clarify the standards applicable to minorities; evaluate the situation on the field, using a neutral referee from the EU. This is the conclusion of this report.
This report was written in the context of the Romania-Ukraine Civic Forum, a project implemented by the Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) in collaboration with the Institute of World Policy (IWP) Kiev. You can access the full report in Romanian here.