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12 September 2012

Civil servants perceive European integration with growing scepticism

Today I was teaching at the Regional Center for In-Service Training of Civil Servants. The seminar was on Ukraine's European integration, the audience included administrative officers from local self-government bodies of the Donetsk Region. 

Less than half of my audience today - when asked if they want Ukraine to join the EU - raised hands without hesitation, the share got up to almost 3/4 when the question was phrased as "Do You want Ukraine to join the EU in the future, for your children and grandchildren?".

Interesting observation - one lady knew a lot about the EU and Ukraine's relations with the Union, including the name of Jose Barroso, but was stigmatized - at least attempted - by her colleagues, who knew nothing and were more sceptical.

They were also afraid to answer, whether the EU's evaluation of the situation in Ukraine was adequate - saying that I was asking provocative questions. :)

Strangely, they did not ask questions about the crisis in Europe - a video on the topic below:

2 comments:

  1. http://youtu.be/aw2SvdfKzbw - here is another video, with Barroso vs Farage

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  2. This one is even better: http://www.euronews.com/2012/09/12/eu-parliament-spat-why-cant-you-understand-/ (the day brings lots of interesting European videos:)

    ReplyDelete