Ukraine should not take international assistance for granted – Czech expert

The expert spoke with an Ukrinform correspondent on the sidelines of the 3rd EU Accession Exchange Forum in Kyiv.

"Continued assistance for Ukraine is not something that should be taken for granted," the pundit said.

Naming the reasons why public support for Ukraine’s EU accession in Central and Eastern Europe may be on gradual decline, the expert said: “One instance that we should focus on in particular is the lack of knowledge. Most of the people in the Czech Republic but also across the region don't have the credible information, let alone about Ukraine, but definitely about enlargement process as such so people don't understand what it is, what it does and how it can impact their future. So this this lack of knowledge is then providing a very fertile ground for abuse by both political populists and anti-systemic forces inside the country,” said Havlicek.

In the information void, he explains, “alternative explanations and interpretations prevail, for example, how much the Ukrainian grain can affect people’s lives, so people can easily fall victim to these populistic narratives and anti-Ukrainian hysteria”.

He believes the Ukrainian business representatives and cultural institutions should increase their outreach and have an open conversation with the society in Czechia – and in the region in general.

“There is so much more missing” in this outreach, the expert opines, “in the countries which are too often basically considered an automatic ally whereas the internal discussions on Ukraine continue, and not always in the right and positive direction”.

“That should definitely wake up many colleagues in Ukraine in the governmental offices but also at the civil society level. There are warning signs that we get from Czech citizens when it comes to their stance on giving Ukraine the EU membership candidate status – it was only 37 percent against 57 percent against it. This is one of the lowest results across the Central and Eastern European countries, Slovakia or Hungary,” noted Havlicek.

Czech government moves, including the ammunition initiative, are worth praise but without a firm public support for such efforts, sustaining them will be problematic, the expert concluded.