The Three Seas Initiative can become an intermediate link for Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and NATO, but Kyiv should make more active diplomatic efforts within the framework of this project. This was discussed during a public discussion «The Three Seas Initiative: Ukraine’s Opportunity for Practical European Integration?», that was organized by the New Europe Center on September 17.
The speakers include Cristian-Leon Turcanu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to Ukraine; Ostap Kryvdyk, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Tomasz Bujko, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine; Markiyan Lubkivskyi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine. Kateryna Zarembo, Deputy Director of the New Europe Center, moderated the discussion.
A policy brief on the opportunities of the Three Seas Initiative for Ukraine, prepared by NEC analyst Tetiana Levoniuk, was presented at the event.
«Today the Three Seas format is positioned primarily as an economic and infrastructure one, while for the political nature of the association, its members lack mutual trust and common interests. We should mention the Bucharest Nine regional format, which is complementary to the Initiative (all members of the Nine are participating in the TSI) and used to promote the security interests of Central and Eastern Europe within NATO and the EU-NATO cooperation, while the TSI is rather a catalyst for the region’s economic development. Energy, transport, and telecommunications have been chosen as the primary areas for deepening cooperation on the North-South axis», – noted Tetiana Levoniuk.
In turn, Cristian-Leon Turcanu called the main objectives of the Three Seas Initiative: «The first is economic cooperation between the participating states; the second is the strengthening of cooperation in general between the states of the European Union; the third is the strengthening of transatlantic co-operation».
Ostap Kryndyk drew attention to the need not to be limited only to economic issues within the framework of Three Seas Initiative: «The concept of the Initiative should strengthen the security factor, because without it may not be fully realized economic component».
Tomasz Bujko stressed that the Three Seas Initiative will not affect EU cohesion in any way: «The Initiative does not in any way divide the EU. This initiative is one of the mechanisms within the European Union».
«The Three Seas Initiative can become an intermediate link for Ukraine’s integration into the EU and NATO. In particular, in the field of infrastructure», – concluding the discussion Markiyan Lubkivskyi noted.
The policy brief «The Three Seas Initiative: Ukraine’s Opportunity for Practical European Integration?» is available at the link
