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.

Gaël Veyssière, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Ukraine, kindly agreed to participate as a speaker. Find below the most inresting thoughts:

• I completely follow the logic that Ukraine would be safer entering into NATO, and that the war would be shorter and security of the continental Europe would be stronger when Ukraine would enter into NATO. Still, it’s a unanimity decision by the Washington Treaty.
• When the time comes, if Ukraine asks us, we will be in a position to support them as much as we can and fully participate in a process that will lead to a just, long-lasting and sustainable peace. But the important thing is that it has to be initiated by Ukraine. Ukraine is the victim. It is up to Ukraine to decide when it can speak and on what basis, and we are here to support it.
• France is one of the main and very active EU partners of Ukraine. We’re trying to bring a determined support: a strong humanitarian, civilian, but also military one. It’s true that quite often we don’t communicate so much about what we are doing because we don’t believe in adding figures to figures. We believe in delivering on our commitments and to do this quickly, not in a lengthy way. Sometimes we’re criticized for that, but what we really are trying to do is actually to be part of a positive transformation for Ukraine.
• There should be no red lines on our side, including for long range, including for NATO. So, I think it is important to take some risks with public opinion, but to be able to say, that it’s possible to support Ukraine and we should do more.
• Why is there a worldwide interest, which goes far beyond from EU countries, that this war would be a victory for Ukraine? Because it’s the key to our own security. Actually, if there would not be a victory for Ukraine, it would mean a victory for Putin. It would mean a victory for any country that actually is a nuclear country and can take pieces of its neighbors. And the natural consequence of that is that people would be convinced that the only guarantee one has is becoming nuclear. So, it means that the number of military nuclear countries could grow to far more. And if you go down this road, actually, the world will be much more dangerous for everybody than what it is right now. So, I think it’s a good example of why there is a global, worldwide necessity that actually Ukraine would be helped into winning this war.

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.