Ukraine's European choice

During the 1990s, the EU was busy completing its single market, introducing the euro and helping the Central and East European applicants get ready for accession. It paid little attention to the countries beyond its new eastern borders, such as Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. Most EU policy-makers saw the former members of the Soviet Union – with the notable exception of the Baltic states – as a fairly homogenous lot.
Kataryna Wolczuk is a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham.