ROMANIA AND UKRAINE – RATIONAL PARTNERS

Lucian-Dumitru Dîrdală[1]

Abstract

Developing the bilateral relation between Romania and Ukraine should become one of the priorities of the Romanian government, at this stage. The evolution of the European Union’s approach towards Eastern neighbors and especially the Eastern Partnership (EaP) encourage countries such as Romania to make a difference. Taking into account the EU- generated divisions in the Ukrainian society, Romania’s support for the pro-EU choice must be consistent, but prudent, especially since the two countries have shared a difficult post-1991 relationship.

EU foreign policy and enlargement are fields in which Romania can bring its contribution to the common efforts and can use the entire influence provided by its size and political weight. Bucharest abandoned its skepticism and became a supporter of the EaP framework, especially since it was seen to advance the prospects for Moldova’s European integration.  Strongly rejecting any arbitrary separation lines in Europe – especially since it was itself subject to such an exclusionary discourse in the 1990s and early 2000s – Romania favors an open-doors policy towards EU enlargement. It would be rational to extend the line of behavior already adopted towards Chisinau and to encourage the Ukrainian government bid for EU accession, should the minimal conditions be met.

The possibilities of bilateral cooperation between Bucharest and Kiev are patterned by various factors, mainly by the impact of the European Union. Out of several possible scenarios generated by Ukraine’s policy choices, building on the current framework of the EaP is obviously the most favorable one for Bucharest-Kiev bilateral relations. The contentious issues on the Romanian-Ukrainian agenda might be tackled in a discrete and constructive manner, as Kiev and Bucharest would operate in a highly patterned environment, in which compliance to EU norms may become less painful, over time.

The bilateral interaction should lead to a rational partnership in which the inter-governmental process will be dominant but, in time, free trade and the free movement of people will reinforce it. Should the Ukrainian people choose to demand full integration, Romania is one of the best possible supporters for such a quest. Promoting a new wave of Eastern enlargement is already the accepted (though still unofficial) doctrine of Romanian foreign policy.

Keywords: Romania, Ukraine, foreign relations, European Union, Eastern Partnership

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[1] Lucian-Dumitru Dîrdala, Ph.D, is Lecturer and President of the Senate of „Mihail Kogălniceanu” University, Iaşi, Romania; contact: Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. . The article was submitted for piblication on November 1, 2013. An earlier draft of this text was presented at the International Conference „Ukraine-Romania:Partners or Competitors”, organized in Odessa, October 14-15, 2013, by the Odessa Branch of the National Institute for Strategic Studies – Ukraine, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Representation in Ukraine and the General Consul of Romania in Odessa.