RPT: Lublin Triangle Format Unlikely To Promote Ukraine's EU Accession - AfD Lawmakers

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) New format of cooperation set up by Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine � the Lublin Triangle � will hardly promote Kiev's accession to the European Union, Siegbert Droese, a member of the Bundestag committee on EU affairs from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik.

Earlier this week, Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian foreign ministers � Jacek Czaputowicz, Linas Linkevicius and Dmytro Kuleba, respectively � inaugurated a new trilateral platform for political, economic and social cooperation, dubbed the Lublin Triangle.

"I am afraid that there will be a very long way of the Ukraine into the EU. So, it is doubtful if the new platform will help very much in this direction," Droese said.

According to the lawmaker, sometimes it is better to use the existing platforms to improve the situation or to resolve conflicts rather than create new forms of cooperation.

"The existing platform 'Minsk' did not achieve essential progress in order to reduce the conflict concerning Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

In terms of the Lublin Triangle, maybe, there is a lack of international backing, too. Furthermore, any normalization is depending on many aspects of international security, including the whole situation in the middle East," Droese added.

Meanwhile, Harald Weyel, the AfD spokesman in the Bundestag committee, told Sputnik that the new platform should neither be anti-German nor anti-Russian, nor should it overestimate NATO or underestimate Russian economic potential.

"This new format may promote regional cooperation but will not be decisive in world affairs," Weyel said when asked about Lublin Triangle's role in promoting Ukraine's accession to the EU.

In addition, according to the lawmaker, if the format does not promote an antagonistic stance toward the the Commonwealth of Independent States, it could help normalize the situation in Ukraine.