Czekając na Europę. Od Pomarańczowej Rewolucji do Euromajdanu (2004–2014)

Abstrakt

The subject of this text is integration with the West in Ukrainian public debate in the period between the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan (2004–2014). The author suggests that the gradual shift in public opinion after 2006, from an EU orientation toward Ukraine’s integration with the Eurasian Customs Union (since 2014 the Eurasian Union, the EAU), was connected with the passivity of pro-Western intellectuals. Having allowed themselves to be pushed out of the newspapers and national television channels, which belong to oligarchs, they found a communications niche in new media forums, where contact with the public is much more limited in terms of numbers. The author also points out the manipulation of public opinion by state services during Janukovych’s presidency for the purpose of marginalizing the national-democratic camp. The author analyzes the changes in opinions expressed by Jurii Andruchovych: from articulating openness to the European project and a civil concept of the Ukrainian nation, through doubting in the possibility of integration with the EU, to accenting the ethnic qualities of Ukrainianness and an elite exclusiveness. In the author’s opinion, another cause of the lack of stability in public opinion on EU integration was EU policy, which was devoid of a long-term strategy in regard to Ukraine.