Ukraine prefers European Union to Customs Union

According to Ukrainian experts, Ukraine is more interested in joining the free trade zone with the European Union (EU) rather than the Customs Union, KazTAG reports. Based on the experts poll, creation of the free trade zone with the EU meets more of the Ukrainian national interests. Preference ratio was 4.26 for the EU and 2.32 for the Customs Union on the 5-point scale. The experts gave several reasons hindering integration of Ukraine in the EU. First of all, it is the high level of corruption in Ukraine. The second reason is slow pace of socio-economic reforms. Other reasons include imperfection of judicial proceedings, problem with protection of rights of foreign investors, unfavorable business conditions, ineffective regulative policy, as well as democracy development problems. All the above reasons, however, do not hinder the country from joining the Customs Union, experts say.