Ewa Malcher
The recent presidential election in Ukraine could prove crucial for the situation in the country, PM Donald Tusk said Wednesday in Gorzow Wielkopolski, west Poland. Tusk said Ukraine was "slowly getting back on its feet".
Tusk, in Gorzow Wielkopolski to meet local inhabitants, said there were no indications of a prompt resolution of the Ukraine conflict and noted that the current events in Donetsk "can hardly be called an optimistic scenario". However, Tusk remarked, Ukraine appeared to be regaining a political foothold and the presidential election could prove a breakthrough point.
"It won't become nice and pleasant right away because it's evident that this war will still take some time. And what is happening in Donetsk today can hardly be called an optimistic scenario. But is seems to me that in the political sense Ukraine is slowly getting back on its feet again", the PM said.
Tusk said he hoped the situation in Ukraine stabilised before year's end and that the country manages to preserve its independence and protect its territory from pro-Russian separatists and Russia itself.
At a meeting with local school youth Tusk spoke about last Sunday's EP elections, especially the low turnout among the young. Asked if he thought that the absence of young voters at the election was a sign of their waning trust in the government, the PM said that it was rather a general Polish idiosyncrasy and reminded that the turnout at the June 4 1989 parliamentary election which overthrew communism was only slightly over 50 percent.
Tusk assured that he was aware of the problems young Poles suffered, especially high unemployment, but noted that their problems were comparable with those of other age-groups in the country. (PAP)
