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, Ukrinform reports.
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.
As Ukrinform reported, Karol Navrotsky, a presidential candidate supported by the opposition PiS party, said that “today he does not see Ukraine in any structure, neither in the EU nor in NATO, until important civilizational issues for Poles are resolved.” He added that Ukraine cannot become a part of international unions until it deals with its past, including the Volyn tragedy, in its relations with Poland.
When asked by Polish journalists to comment on this situation, Zelensky said that if Ukraine is not in the EU and NATO, it means that it will not have security guarantees and will be left alone against the Russian Federation. He emphasized that if Navrotsky does not see Ukraine in these alliances, then he “needs to go train” because it may turn out that he “will have to take up arms to defend his country together with his countrymen.”
In turn, Polish President Andrzej Duda later said in an interview with Polish media that Zelensky’s remarks about Navrotsky during a meeting with Polish media during his visit to Poland on January 15 were a “controversial situation” given the ongoing election campaign in Poland. In his opinion, he should have been “more moderate”.
Source: Most Poles do not see Ukraine in EU, NATO without resolving Volyn tragedy
