The Statement

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Borys Tarasiuk, of Germany Joschka Fischer, and of Poland Adam Rotfeld have discussed integration of Ukraine into the European Union.They made this statement to the press in Kyiv. Tarasiuk said he has handed over to his Polish and German counterparts the list of expectations for interaction with the European Union. Rotfeld and Fischer basically approved all points. "The only thing is that they factored the item of Ukraine's membership [in the EU] from the list at the present stage," Tarasiuk stressed. Fischer said that both Germany and Poland agreed to assist Ukraine in its entry to the World Trade Organization, and noted that the victory of democracy in Ukraine is important for all parts of Europe. Rotfeld said that brining the processes currently happening in Ukraine closer to European standards is one of the issues on the today's agenda. He specified that by processes he meant the legislation and war against corruption. In his opinion, Ukrainian elite is well aware that no one will discuss Ukraine's membership in the EU in the near future, while a large spectrum of the sociality believes that Ukraine should amend only few things to join the Union. Rotfeld stressed that his country will focus its assistance to Ukraine on training the young generation. Specifically, they are mulling over turning the Ukrainian-Polish College in Lublin into a university and over opening a European university in Kyiv. Rotfeld and Fischer are also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yuschenko.