Now, after the Ukrainian people's commitment to closer ties with Europe fuelled a successful popular insurrection, the EU, along with the International Monetary Fund, is putting together a multibillion-dollar rescue package to save the country from financial collapse.
She claimed that the toxic atmosphere since the EU referendum, fuelled in part by newspaper coverage, had left many Britons feeling frightened about their futures and wanting people to speak up on their behalf.
Even so soon after we joined the EU, such antagonism, fuelled by newspapers that were hostile from the start, fed an audience – including both left- and rightwing leaders – with stories of wasteful butter mountains and wine lakes, and threats to the British banger.
Media captionSir John Major: "For the first time there is a serious possibility our electorate could vote to leave the European Union" The case for leaving the European Union will be fuelled further if EU countries do not help the UK limit immigration, Sir John Major has said.
The case for leaving the European Union will be fuelled further if EU countries do not help the UK limit immigration, Sir John Major has said.
Moves to reach an association agreement with the EU - seen as a key step towards eventual EU membership - again fuelled tensions with Russia.
At the same time, a new report from MPs has found the "poisonous tone" of the EU referendum debate has fuelled the demonisation of immigrants and created obstacles for social integration.
A sad coalition of extremes is coalescing to stop any deal: hard Brexiters, for whom compromise with the hated EU must be thwarted; fuelled by the knowledge that if no agreement commands a majority a no-deal Brexit becomes the default outcome; and ardent remainers who warned of the dangers of a cliff-edge Brexit, now hoping to defeat a deal and force a crisis to secure a second referendum.
In the EU, this rise was further fuelled by reduced domestic production and a shortage of import licenses.
"Alongside economic anxiety and other factors, the Brexit vote reflects a resentment of cross-border migration that has fuelled nationalist sentiment in Europe and called into question the way forward for EU integration," Obstfeld said.
