#MEMBERSHIP

Ukraine declared it would not settle for anything less than NATO membership to guarantee its future security, as the alliance sidestepped Kyiv’s call for an immediate invitation at a foreign ministers’ meeting on Tuesday.

The European Union officially began accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, ten years after the EU signed association agreements with both states.

Ukraine and Moldova will open formal accession talks with the EU on Tuesday, some two weeks after the bloc announced that both countries had met the requirements to begin negotiations.

To enlarge the EU or to concentrate on integration has been a dilemma at the heart of the organization since Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, Luxembourg and West Germany came together to form the then European Economic Community in 1957.

Andrzej Olechowski, who served as Poland’s finance minister (1992) and minister of foreign affairs (1993-1995), was our guest.