Ukraine in Arabic | Germans doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO, poll says

05.12.2014 - 14:15 #Ukraine, #NATO, #Germany, #Russia, #Frank-Walter Steinmeier, #war, #Poll, #Sanctions, #Crisis

The escalation of the military conflict in Ukraine challenged Germany’s foreign policy

KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Most Germans say Berlin’s tough line on Moscow is correct, although they have doubts about the effectiveness of sanctions, according to a poll conducted at the request of German television’s ARD channel

Some 61% of respondents have a positive attitude towards the tightening of policies on Moscow, according to a poll conducted by German research center Infratest dimap, which was commissioned by German television’s ARD channel as part of its Deutschlandtrend project.

However, the majority of respondents are skeptical that Western sanctions will affect Russia's actions, with 66% having this opinion. However, a total of 54% consider the policy to be correct.

One should remember that every coin has its flip side. Germany has strong economic ties to Russia. According to a United Nations Comtrade report, in 2013 Germany exported goods valued at 49 billion US dollars, whereas the country received $39 billion of Russian goods. What is even more striking, the number of trade deals has also raised compared to previous years. Among the top export goods one can find German vehicles, machinery and even pharmaceutical products. In Germany, 350,000 jobs are dependent on trade with Russia. This explains why German companies are interested in keeping the negotiating line open between the two countries. On October 16th 2014 Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, signed the Association Agreement with the European Union. Even though part of its implementation is to be postponed due to Russian pressure, Ukraine has plenty of political and economic reforms to complete. However, this might mean the future re-orientation towards Ukraine for German businesses.

Another question that stands out for Ukraine these days is NATO perspectives for Ukraine. In 2008, Ukraine applied for a NATO Membership Action Plan together with Georgia. The issue was discussed during the Bucharest summit in 2008. At that time, Germany opposed any offer for Ukraine and Georgia to follow a Membership Action Plan, the necessary step for joining the Alliance. In 2014, when Ukraine suffers a military intervention from its eastern neighbor, the topic of NATO is being broadly discussed. Will Germany give a hand to Ukraine this time, or should the country face another round of frustration?

According to the poll, only one in four respondents, or 26%, approves of Ukraine joining NATO. At the same time, 40% said that NATO should take on more responsibility in the Ukrainian conflict. Three months ago, this opinion was held by 56% of respondents.

Recently, the German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier declared that he considers Ukraine rather as a partner, but not an EU or NATO member in the long term. He has also recently visited both Kyiv and Moscow. His public statement did not sound optimistic about the stabilisation of the conflict: “There is no reason for optimism in the current situation”. However, Steinmeier made a statement to the German magazine Spiegel: “I see a partnership between Ukraine and NATO, but not membership”. This might be a call for Ukraine for reforming the country immediately with the ongoing crisis. On the other hand, this might be a signal of rejection from the German side.

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