Brussels, 27/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, said on Friday 24 August that although his country remains faithful to its European choice, European integration will not take place at any price. “We are confidently moving towards our goal of building a modern European state. But it is an extremely difficult process”, the president said. “We are looking for our road into the community of developed states, but integration achieved at any cost, at the expense of losing independence, having to make economic or territorial concessions and allowing someone else to interfere in our internal affairs is not the path we will ever agree to follow”, Yanukovych added on their independence day. This comment is linked to the situation of the former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who is supported by the EU, which complicates relations between Brussels and Kiev.
Yanukovych also implied that Ukraine could turn more towards an economic association with Russia if European integration is too complicated. “We must multilaterally develop cooperation with our CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] partners. After all, that is where there is the biggest market for Ukrainian producers. We should not ignore the integration processes which are going on there”, he said. (CG/transl.fl)