Brussels, 10/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The MEP Alain Lamassoure (EPP, France) stressed on Friday 7 November that Ukraine should not join the EU. “It should be made quite clear Ukraine has no vocation to join the EU”, he explained at a debate organised by the French magazine l'Obs (our translation throughout). He said that “if we want to build a sustainable strategic partnership with Russia”, the EU must ensure that “Ukraine is free in its political choices, in its international relations” and there should not be the “objective of bringing Ukraine within the European sphere”. Nor should Russia aim to bring Ukraine within the Russian sphere, he added. For her part, the French academic and expert on Russia, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, argues that Ukraine should be a “neutral state” as regards NATO and its relations with the EU.
According to the French MEP, the new European leaders should offer Russia a “reset”, starting again from scratch. “There is need of an agreement with Russia to put an end to the situation in Ukraine (…), also for a global agreement on commercial relations, gas, the Atlantic Alliance”, he concluded. (CG)