The Ukrainian lawmakers finally received the Ukrainian president’s annual message on May 31 concerning the domestic and foreign political situation in 2001 and another message dealing with the fundamentals of the economic and social development strategy for 2002-11, titled “The European Choice,” reports Interfax Ukraine. The document reads that the formation of a “highly developed democratic state social in essence and ruled by law” is the highest priority of the next decade. Mr. Kuchma notes that the available tools of economic policy, formed in the preceding period, are “not aimed at securing qualitative transformations like innovating development, upgrading output structures, overcoming a deeply going differentiation of approaches, etc.” A new objective is determined: the formation of a “powerful state, optimizing its regulatory functions, at the same time waging a policy that would not only preserve, but also substantially enhance the market vector of the development process, making it more oriented toward the end result,” the message continues. Noting that the success of reform depends on public support, the president emphasizes that “in determining the new strategy it is necessary to achieve maximum political consensus, public unity, and accord with regard to the key targets of this strategy, mechanisms of its implementation, and basic principles... The European choice strategy must be regarded also as an important stimulus in expediting systemic reforms, enhancing the citizenry’s political and social activity.”
