The most interesting thoughts of Ihor Zhovkva during the presentation “Foreign Policy and Security”

On December 10, New Europe Center organized presentation of the results of opinion poll “Foreign Policy and Security: Opinions of Ukrainian Society”. The event was attended by representatives of the diplomatic, expert and media environment.

The detailed results of opinion poll are available on New Europe Center site.

The opinion poll covered a broad range of foreign policy and security issues: security guarantees for Ukraine, formats of NATO accession, EU accession, preconditions for potential negotiations to end the war, levels of trust in foreign institutions and leaders, and more.

During the presentation Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the President’s Office, Diplomatic Adviser to the President of Ukraine, adressed to the guests. Below you can find the most interesting thoughts of the speaker:

Today’s poll highlights the most pressing issues. It is really important that the positions of the Government and citizens coincide. This is the unity that will help us win.
I am very pleased that the Victory Plan has been put to the public for consideration. This plan should make it easier for both us and our partners to achieve victory. The Victory Plan remains relevant for the President. The first point of this document is to invite Ukraine to join NATO. This is really the best, most optimal guarantee of security today. Therefore, we will continue to talk to absolutely all partners, to all 32 members of the Alliance about receiving an invitation to join the Alliance at this stage.
Since the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO remains out of reach, today we need appropriate guarantees of our security before we join NATO.
Will it be possible for Ukraine to join the EU without joining NATO? We cannot afford neutral status, because we have already had this unconvincing experience. There are neutral countries which are members of the EU without NATO membership. However, obviously, this is not a case of Ukraine.
Today, the process of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union has a rather high dynamic. We successfully passed the first stage: screening of the first cluster “Fundamentals”. This is a very important cluster, because all negotiations with candidate countries begin with it. Ukraine is now starting to screen the second cluster “Internal Market”.
According to the confident statement of the new President of the European Council, Ukraine is ready and has a chance to open at the beginning of next year not one, but two clusters, on which national work is being carried out today: the delegation of Ukraine is performing, competent departments are involved. We do not stop for a day in order to technically completely comply with this process. It is quite fast, and it is Ukraine that sets the pace.
Integration into the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as joining the European Union, are very important building blocks of our victory. When somebody talks about peace, Ukraine is the first country that wants peace. But we are talking about a just and lasting peace. We do not need peace for peace on the basis of dictate from the Russian Federation. Therefore, one of the prerequisites for a long peace and not the resumption of aggression by the Russian Federation is Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the European Union.

Full news report about the event is available via link.

Photo report is here.

The record in English is here.

The record in Ukrainian is here.

Let us remind that this is the third opinion poll initiated by the NEC. The results of the first opinion poll can be found here, the second – here.

The presentation of the poll results is organized within the framework of a project supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. The poll was conducted by the research agency Info Sapiens at the request of the New Europe Center.