Ukraine between EU and the Customs Union: is it for people to choose? Expert opinions

The topic of cooperation between Ukraine and the Customs Union after the signing of the association agreement with the EU became the subject of today's meeting of the Eurasian Discussion Club in Moscow and Kiev with the help of video translation. The round table is called "The Eurasian choice of Ukraine: opportunities and prospects of cooperation between Russia and Ukraine in the framework of the Customs Union."

At the video conference Russia was represented by the Chairman of the Eurasian Discussion Club Roman Shkolin, advisor of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Ivan Makushok, deputy of the State Duma Roman Khudyakov, deputy dean of the Faculty of History of the Moscow State University (MSU) Alexey Vlasov and a number of other experts. The Ukrainian side was represented by the government's commissioner for cooperation with the Russian Federation and the CIS states Valery Muntiyan, the leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine Pyotr Symonenko and others.

Roman Shkolin said that integration into any alliance should only be undertaken with regard to the opinion of the population.

Pyotr Simonenko said that he has no illusions about the Association Agreement  and that Ukraine will sign it since it had been working in this direction for the past 20 years. He also said that the only party in the country that offers to initiate discussion on this topic with the population is the communist party. He also added that the draft Agreement offers unbeneficial terms for Ukraine and will cause economic problems.

Roman Khudyakov proposed to explain the advantages of the Customs Union such as lower charges for energy and trade growth to the government.

Alexei Vlasov, in his turn, urged his colleagues to demonstrate to people the social importance of the Customs Union, as well as the economic benefits it can bring to youth people. He also added that nowadays Ukrainians have no clear preference for any union, they simply want to feel safe and prosper.