Sixty-two percent of Ukrainians support Ukraine's membership of NATO, and 57% want the country to join the European Union, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze has said.
According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers, she stated this as part of a working visit to Paris during a meeting with French presidential adviser on European affairs Clement Beaune.
Beaune asked about the moods of Ukrainians regarding the state's course for European integration.
Klympush-Tsintsadze said that recent studies show the growing support for European integration by Ukrainian citizens. The latest survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows that 57% of Ukrainians support Ukraine's joining the EU. In February 2017, 49% of respondents were ready to vote for Ukraine's accession to the EU, and in May this year it was 53%. The share of opponents of the country's joining the EU over this period shrank from 28% to 17%.
The deputy prime minister suggested that the reason for the increased readiness of the population to vote for membership of the EU was the introduction of a visa-free regime, which could positively influence the attitude and confidence in the EU. She also added that the share of people ready to vote for joining NATO, which currently stands at 62%, was also growing.
The sides also discussed preparations for the Eastern Partnership summit, which will be held next week. Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that Ukraine was interested in the effective holding of the EaP summit and finding solutions that would be mutually beneficial for the partner countries and the EU. Beaune said that France was paying great attention to the summit and understood its importance for Ukraine.
"We hope that France will continue to take the position of respect for international law and the EU's unity in opposing the behavior of countries that destroy the principles of peace established in Europe after the Second World War," she said.
Klympush-Tsintsadze briefed Beaune about the progress of reforms in Ukraine and the situation in the country's eastern regions. Thanked Paris for support Kyiv in issues related to the preservation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
