Last Thursday, on the eve of the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv, The Day asked a few people from various regions of Ukraine what they would like to gain from the European Union. Apparently, Ukrainians are far more critical and demanding of themselves and their government.
Kostiantyn ROZDOLIANSKY, member of the Zhovtnevy Raion Council, Luhansk:
“The president is shouting about the ‘road map’ from every rooftop, but nobody has put this idea across to man in the street. The EU, too, is mostly busy solving its own problems, the latest events in France being a glaring example. Relaxation of the visa regime with EU member states, granting Ukraine market economy status, and joint projects in the energy sector and civil aviation are good things. Ukrainians will undoubtedly benefit from a step-by-step achievement of these goals. But what do we see in reality? Our government is waiving visas for EU citizens, and in response they set tougher demands for our compatriots who travel to European countries. The European Union is not rushing to open the door widely to Ukraine; moreover, we’ve been told openly that our accession is not on the EU agenda. The so-called European Neighborhood Policy is to some extent a trump card that vested interests are using in their own political interests. President Yushchenko is playing this card against the background of gas talks with Russia and trying to win the respect of western Ukrainian job-seekers in Europe. The European Union is pursuing a policy of double-standards toward Ukraine, as it is toward Turkey, for example. I think there will always be ‘stumbling blocks’ on our country’s road to Europe.
“I work in the housing and public utilities sector; I was one of the first in my city to establish and organize the effective work of an association of apartment building co-owners. I made a special study of the experience of how European condominiums function, so I’d like to emphasize that we all must gradually adopt European standards of living and doing business. It is the demand of the times and technological progress. But it would be just silly to rush into the EU without taking current realities into account. One must take advantage of all the best points inherent in all political unions and systems. The main thing is to maintain a dialogue in one language, the language of Ukrainian interests and Ukraine’s future. Meanwhile, our ‘Euro-integration’ looks more like an attempt to jump into the last car of a train bound for nowhere.”
Serhiy KOPYLOV, Dean, Faculty of History, Kamyanets-Podilsky State University:
“Today we must not forget that the 21st-century’s worldwide linchpin is globalization, when national barriers are being swept away and countries are diving into high technology, which, to tell the truth, is not a friendly environment for us. Today this process is the main thoroughfare of humankind’s development.
“So it is quite logical for Ukraine to join the European Union. Membership in this institution will greatly boost the standards of this country’s civilized development. It is about the stability of governmental and civil institutions, guarantees of democracy, rule of law, human rights, a functioning market economy, and the ability to successfully compete in a united market.
“Ukraine’s accession to the EU as well as its membership in other international institutions will prove convincingly that it has been recognized as a truly independent state equal in all respects to other European countries. At the same time, this will allow Ukraine to enter European and world markets (we do have something to offer our partners) and rid ourselves of various economic sanctions.
“As an educator, I hope that entry into the EU will help Ukraine bring its education system in line with Europe as soon as possible. However, I expect Ukrainian society to do more. I share the opinion that The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna expressed when she visited our university and said that maybe we should go to Europe as part of institutions, enterprises, and cities. For, as exhibits of the recently opened museum of local self-government prove, Kamyanets-Podilsky was once part of Europe.
“To keep pace with progress and cooperate with European universities on equal terms, we must first learn democracy and assert ourselves in the everyday life of civil society, not just pour our hearts out in the kitchen. Every day, drop by drop, we must squeeze the slave out of ourselves as well as everything that does not befit a European. Democracy is a process in which everybody must take part instead of waiting for it to come from the outside.”
Halyna HUBERNA, Professor of Economics:
“I think that before referring any problems to the EU summit and waiting for the results of cooperation with Europe, we must think seriously about which domestic problems we can solve by ourselves, without anyone’s interference. Lately, we have been pinning too many hopes on all kinds of summits, but we must first of all look at ourselves.
“We have a host of problems that we should at least try to solve on our own. For example, we must stop speculating about the alleged conflict between the Russian and Ukrainian languages and solve some acute socioeconomic problems, including the large number of homeless children, who must be taken off the street. Can someone else do this instead of us? The EU and these kinds of summits are just distracting our leadership’s attention from our own domestic problems, and it is high time our leaders concentrated on our own country so that it will make progress at least in some fields.”
