Ukraine needs a well-developed civil society in order to achieve the social transformations necessary to move forward on the path to European integration, but progress is impossible without policy decisions by the government, experts say
Ukraine needs a well-developed civil society in order to achieve the social transformations necessary to move forward on the path to European integration, but progress is impossible without policy decisions by the government. This was the key message delivered by Oleksandr Lavrynovych, an expert with the Meridian Center of Information Studies and Resource Services, at the December 5 roundtable in Lviv “Ukraine’s Civilizational Affiliation to the Foundations of European Citizenship”. The event was organized by the Network of European Information Centers of Ukraine, Ukrainian National House in Chernivtsi and the Institute of Political Technologies with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation’s European Program.
Oleksandr Lavrynovych noted the absence of political will in Ukraine to achieve EU standards and the ambivalence on the part of Ukrainian politicians.
Ihor Babiuk (Bukovyna Center for Election Technologies) noted that public institutions should be preachers of European values. Integral, in his opinion, is the formation of favorable environments and civil society organizations, in particular European information centers.
Maksym Detynchenko, a representative of the NGO Young Diplomacy, pointed out that there is no problem with civilizational choice among youth: they are set on the European vector of development. Young people aren’t burdened by the historical legacy of conflicts with neighboring countries and the pressure of a Soviet past.
Contacts:
Ukrainian National House in Chernivtsi
Yevhenia Oliynyk
+380 50 909 13 45
***
The essential role of the European Program lies in promotion of Ukraine’s European integration, combining external pressure of the EU with the domestic one of the Ukrainian civil society, and thus contributing to promotion of open society values in Ukraine.
