There is a widespread belief in Ukrainian society that Europe has an obligation to take care of Ukrainians because they stood on the Maidan.
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Kost Bondarenko, director of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, commenting on the failure of the attempt to introduce the institution of electronic declaration in Ukraine, which the EU requires from Kyiv.
“In words, we are all moving to Europe, fighting corruption and advocating openness, but when it comes to the need to declare our income, then, as the first president of Ukraine said, “we have what we have.” We are not yet ready to fight corruption. We would like to live in Europe, but in an Asian way,” said the political scientist.
“The majority of our citizens, as sociology shows, would like to live in Europe, but in such a way that Europe would feed, clothe, and pay European salaries. And we would live the old fashioned way: we would not pay taxes, declare our income and expenses. We will live as we lived, but Europe is obliged to feed us, because we stood on the Maidan. This is approximately the psychology that was reflected in the position of our deputies, which manifested itself during the vote for electronic declaration,” the expert added.