Ukraine's EU, NATO bid hinges on Volyn issue, say Poles

The majority of Poles (59.5%) do not see Ukraine in the EU and NATO until the problems related to the Volyn tragedy are resolved in relations with Poland.

This is stated in a survey conducted by the United Surveys center for the Wirtualna Polska publication, CE Report quotes Ukrinform.

To the question “To what extent do you agree with the following sentence: I can't imagine Ukraine joining the EU and NATO until it has dealt with the past, that is, the Volyn tragedy,” 59.5% of Poles agreed with this statement. This question was answered “definitely yes” by 36.4% of Poles, and 23.1% - “rather yes”.

Instead, only 24.9% of Poles believe that resolving the Volyn tragedy in relations with Poland is not a prerequisite for Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO. To this question, 16% of respondents answered “rather not” and 8.9% answered “definitely not.”

At the same time, 15.6% of Poles said they were undecided on the matter.

The highest number of supporters of the thesis that Ukraine cannot join the EU and NATO without resolving the Volyn tragedy is among voters of right-wing conservative and nationalist parties, in particular Law and Justice (PiS) and Confederation (78%). Instead, a much smaller percentage of such people are among the supporters of the left-liberal parties of the ruling coalition (Civic Coalition, Left, Third Way) - 52%. At the same time, 36% of voters of the ruling left-liberal parties and only 20% of supporters of right-wing conservative and nationalist political parties do not support this thesis.

The survey was conducted on December 20-22 by a mixed method among 1000 adult Poles.