European Parliament members still cherish the hope that Ukraine will some day join the European Union, while European Commission and EU Council bureaucrats are refraining from this kind of forecast. This conclusion may be drawn from comments by participants of an EP conference devoted to Ukraine.
“Do not believe that no one in Europe is waiting for Ukraine, remember that we support you in the European Parliament,” said Jacek Sariusz-Wolski, the Polish vice-president of the European Parliament. Elmar Brock, the German chairman of the EP Foreign Relations Committee shares his opinion. “I wouldn’t like to compare Ukraine with Turkey. But why has Turkey been granted candidate status and Kyiv has not? We are still waiting for an answer. Ukraine is a European country with European prospects, and we must help Ukraine.” One year after the Orange Revolution, so popular in the corridors of the European Parliament, the MEPs are not completely certain about Ukraine, but believe that this country stands a good chance of becoming a member of the EU club by working steadily on reforms. Ukraine was advised to combat corruption, build a civil society, reform the economy, and bring its standards into line with European ones. Hans-Gert Pottering, chairman of a group of European Democrats in the European Parliament, said that Ukrainians should independently choose their own future, but for this public trust in the authorities is necessary.
“The quality of our relations depends on the quality of reforms in Ukraine,” said Pirkka Tapiola, adviser to Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy. He has no doubts that Ukraine is a democracy that still has to combat corruption and hold fair elections in March 2006. The adviser is slightly shocked by the current popularity of Viktor Yanukovych, but he says that the main thing is that Ukraine is already democratic.
Will Kyiv receive EU candidate status? Does Ukraine need to strive to sign an agreement on associated partnership with the European Union? Some of the conference participants tried to answer these questions. Marek Dabrowski, chairman of the Polish Center for Economic and Social Studies, believes that the EU is taking a lopsided approach to CIS countries, on the one hand, and Central European, Baltic, and Balkan states, on the other. This expert is not convinced that the new EU neighborhood policy will be sufficient for the EU neighbor countries to carry out radical reforms. As for Ukraine, Dabrowski said that this country is approaching World Trade Organization membership, but this could be done faster.
Many speakers said that reprivatization has worsened the investment climate in Ukraine and that economic growth under the current government is a mere 3 percent compared to 12 percent under the former president. But it depends. “Three percent is not so bad compared to 1.5-percent growth in Europe,” noted Charles Tannock, vice president of the EU-Ukraine Committee. It was Michael Emerson, an expert at the Center for European Policy Studies, who made a brilliant remark about the future of the Ukrainian economy. “Ukraine has no chance of becoming a happy country unless it integrates into the European economy. Otherwise the country will throw itself at the mercy of the ‘Russian Cossack’ with oil and gas.”
