Galician separatists in W. Ukraine want to join Europe without the rest of Ukraine

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European Galician Assembly has become more active in Lvov. It is known for its advocacy of separatism. Activists of the organization held a conference, at which the City Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and former economic development Minister Pavel Sheremet were among the guests.

The Galician Assembly consists of local intellectuals who have never concealed their separatist views (they recently registered the Ukrainian Galician party). The head of organisation Vladimir Pavliv became famous as a "Galician autonomist" even before the war. In his view, a change in the format of the administrative-territorial status is not far off.

"I am interested in autonomy for Western Ukraine or Galicia, and what happens beyond Zbruch, I don't care about," - he confessed two years ago. "The integrity of Ukraine for me is less important than the well-being of Galicia ".

Another leader of the Galician Assembly writer Taras Prohasko called Donbass -"a gangrene for the Ukrainian State." However, today the Galician separatists do not publicly express their support for the secession of the Western region, and the purpose of the organization is officially referred to as the development of Galicia and integration into Europe. However, activists of the Assembly hinted that they wouldn't mind getting into the EU without Ukraine.

"We need to unite, at least three areas - Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk. "The goal of our Organization is to return Galicia to Europe, because this is an area which is most ready for European integration," - said Pavliv at the recent opening of Ternopil affiliate. He also didn't mind joining the initiative of Transcarpathian region and Bukovina.

Expert Taras Gliwinskiy believes that the Galician party is betting on local elections: "The chip will be the promise of EU membership, and if the economy will collapse because of the war in the East, the question of secession will rise".