According to Poland’s former president Ukraine may find itself in danger if it remains in a “leg-split” position between Europe and Russia

Lviv. March 26. INTERFAX-UKRAINE - Ukraine should define its place within Europe, because if it remains in a "leg-split" position between Europe and Russia this is going to be dangerous and backbreaking, said Poland's former president Alexander Kwasniewski.

«To remain in a "leg-split" position between Europe and Russia is very dangerous and backbreaking for Ukraine. I think that even such a big country as Russia, with its strategic importance is not capable of sticking to such strategic uncertainty on a long-tern basis i.e. to be here or there. And Ukraine did make the decision and it has to be implemented», - said A. Kwasniewski on Monday during «European Debate Forum» in Lviv.

According to him, «Ukraine should answer a question: «How do we want to define our place in Europe». And one must clearly state: «We are willing to join EU and NATO, we have fulfilled most of the terms and conditions to become their members and our people have repeatedly stated that they are interested in Euro integration. And, of course, one should state that we are building up the most favorable relations with Russia. However, we are doing so as a member of Euro-structure», - pointed out the Poland's former president.

At the same time A. Kwasniewski said that Ukraine was facing several unresolved problems related to Euro integration. Firstly, he noted, some EU states are looking at Ukraine's integration through the prism of relations between Russia, and this creates certain obstacles for Ukraine. Secondly, some EU member-states, especially the old ones, are somewhat tired due to intense increase of EU members.

The third problem, he said,   relates to Ukraine itself. According to A. Kwasniewski, Ukrainian politicians should keep pace with time. «Europe's political day equals to 24 hours, and Ukraine's one equals to 6 months. It should not happen like this, you should learn to respond to events promptly «, - he said.

Moreover, the politicians should unite their efforts to reinforce the State's interests. «You have the elected President and the Government and they should consolidate their efforts for the sake of the State's interests», - stressed A. Kwasniewski.

According to him, a situation when a president and government represent different political forces is not something extraordinary. A. Kwasniewski told that when he had been the president, he had been working with the opposition government for 5 years.

On Tuesday, A. Kwasniewski is going to visit Dnipropetrovs'k City.

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