The older members of the European Union are not interested in Ukraine's European Union membership prospects, according to a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Boguslaw Liberadzki.
"Look where the [EU's] decision-making center is. Berlin, Paris. Who said that an agreement between Kyiv and Warsaw is impossible [if Ukraine joins the EU]," Liberadzki told reporters in Kyiv on Monday.
According to the politician, the EU is suffering a crisis today, but "that problem is not in the new, but in old member states." However, the EU could get new opportunities if it accepts new members, the MEP said.
According to Liberadzki, farming land is used ineffectively in Ukraine. In addition, the country has access to the Black Sea.
But the problem is that Ukraine is a big country and if it joins the EU some 50 Ukrainian deputies may appear in the EP. Poland also has around 50 MEPs, and deputies from East European countries could support them. Thus, these states could have more votes in the EP than Germany and France.
"It won't be French-German European Union any more," Liberadzki said.
He added that the EU's criticism regarding the court proceedings against former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko is "just a tool" to avoid Ukraine's integration in the EU. According to the MEP, the case "is not political."
"It's the proper [punishment] for the corruption of the former premier," the MEP said.
Liberadzki came to Ukraine to negotiation a possibility of prolongation of a cooperation agreement between the Regions Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The agreement is expected to be prolonged in November.
