GERMANY’S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND EURO-ATLANTIC ASPIRATIONS OF UKRAINE

Despite the long history of relations Ukraine had a sidetrack in the German Eastern European politics. Ukrainian-German relations were in the shadow of German-Russian. This led to inconsistencies in the development of the German strategy for Ukraine and its European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Another cause is a dualism of German foreign policy – as a nation-state on the one hand and on the other – as the informal leader of the EU, the most influential country in the union, whose foreign policy to some extent affects Europe overall. As the informal leader of the EU, Germany wants to strengthen the organization, including by means of the expansion and attraction of the new member-states. At the same time, Germany cannot let the entry of economically weak and politically unstable states that will dilute the strength of the organization. This opinion is shared by the German foreign policy, since the increased number of weak economies in the EU will increase the burden on the economy of Germany. On the one hand this will prorogue considerably Ukraine’s entry to the EU and NATO, but at the same time the situation may change for the better in the event that positive changes take place in Ukraine. The breakdown of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is characterized by significant changes in the format of relations between countries, including the Eastern region, in particular the relations between Ukraine and Germany changed significantly. There is an abandonment of the fixed spheres of influence concept and political supremacy of some states over others. Germany and many of countries in the region are united in the European Union and NATO. There are new mighty centers of power, especially Poland, which is trying to play an independent role. This dictates the need for Germany to take into account the position of the Polish foreign policy strategies under development in the region.