Euro 2012 brings no progress for Ukraine

The European Football Championship kicks off in Poland and Ukraine on Friday. But whereas Poland has a high standing in the EU both economically and politically, the event has hardly benefited Ukraine, the left-liberal daily Le Monde writes: "The only country in the EU not to have suffered a recession since 2008, Poland has modernised and opened up to a remarkable degree over the past two decades, acquiring an unprecedented weight within the EU. Ukraine, by contrast, has disappointed and irritated the European leaders. Instead of approaching the EU, embracing its values and taking the path to becoming a constitutional democracy and a market economy, it has become more entrenched in its ways. In this respect Euro 2012, which could have docked Ukraine on the continent and extracted it from its post-Soviet roots, is a failure."

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