ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the European Neighbourhood Policy (EPN) has been a first step in this direction, demonstrating the European Union's (EU's) readiness to 'share the benefits of enlargement with neighbouring countries' by extending cooperation to a wide range of areas. Although these areas clearly reflect priorities of security and economic stability meant to benefit member states as much as their neighbours, there is much truth in the EU's claim that ENP offers its 'ring of friends' the chance to share 'everything but the institutions. Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly stated their country's future to be European, and the recently elected government has just reaffirmed its long-term aspirations to join NATO and the EU. Diverging general attitudes and foreign policy preferences can thus be traced back to different regional histories and the resulting different ethnic composition of Ukraine's regions. The Donetsky and Prydniprovsky regions are long-standing industrial centres with a highly developed heavy industry sector and industrial output amounting to a quarter of total production.
