“Talks about NATO without the real prospects contradict Ukrainian state interests as well undermining the consensus, which has established within the society,” Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Feldman wrote on his Facebook page commenting the initiative to hold a referendum about joining NATO.
“I think many paid attention to the changes of political agenda in Ukraine today: from the uniting topics to the splitting ones. The society is literally returned to 2004 by imposing the top-priority importance of the urgent and radical forced solution of language, history, NATO issues. It is fair to assume that when the authorities are criticized in unison in Kharkiv and Lviv, someone doesn’t like this,” the politician emphasized. “Therefore the “uncomfortable” issues of rates, business, corruption, unemployment are artificially supplanted by the conflict topics. So, I’m not surprised that the initiative to carry out the NATO issue referendum was voiced exactly right now.”
According to Oleksandr Feldman, looking at this situation in detail, it becomes clear that the results of this hypothetical referendum do not guarantee Ukraine’s joining the Alliance. “The only significant result is that nearly a third or maybe even more of Ukrainians will feel themselves a minority once again. As far back as 2015, the then chief of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said in an unusual for diplomatic Europeans manner that Ukraine has no prospects of becoming a member of EU or NATO during the next 20-25 years. The acceptance of the new members with the unsolved territorial disputes and conflicts contradicts the charter and the real interests of the Alliance,” he noted.
