Ukraine corruption scandal raises doubts over EU accession
A new high-profile corruption scandal at the highest levels of the Ukrainian government has sparked fresh debate in the European Union over European integration and continued support for Ukraine.
Harald Vilimsky, an MEP from the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria, which is part of the Patriots for Europegroup, said the investigation involving Andriy Yermak showed how deeply corruption is rooted in Ukraine. In his view, under such conditions, the country’s EU membership should not even be discussed.
“The European Union must not negotiate with a country where corruption and money laundering are on the agenda, not today, not tomorrow, and not ever in the future,” the MEP claimed.
Denmark freezes cooperation with Ukrainian company
Although such calls have so far found little support among the EU leadership, corruption in Kyiv is already prompting individual member states to scale back cooperation with Ukraine.
A major contract with the Ukrainian company Fire Point to build a solid rocket fuel plant has been frozen by the Danish government. Earlier, Denmark had allocated €1.4 billion of its taxpayers’ money for the project.
The use of opaque arrangements in the deal had previously raised questions among Danish journalists. But Kyiv described Fire Point as a “national asset” and effectively placed it beyond scrutiny. Danish politicians accepted that position at the time.
The new scandal has now forced them to reconsider.
