Pawel Kowal, Chairman of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in the European Parliament, has been frequently visiting Ukraine. The aim of his recent visit was to attend a meeting between a group of European MPs and the Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament – Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
POWER CONCENTRATION GAME
How does the European Parliament feel about the latest cadre reshuffling in the Ukrainian administration, particularly about Andrii Kliuiev’s appointment as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO)?
“I think this is part of the power concentration game which is usually played in various countries, in the course of an election campaign. Of course, Brussels took a dim view of Kliuiev being relieved of his post as first deputy prime minister and appointed as RNBO secretary. The man is one of few Ukrainian politicians (perhaps the only one) who combine effective parliament membership with influence in the political realm, which is very important. We saw that the talks were being handled by an influential politician. The man succeeded in negotiating the EU FTA and [Ukraine’s] association agreement.”
Do you think that Kliuiev won’t be as influential in his current status?
“Mr. Kliuiev has always been chief of the Party of Regions’ staff. I realize that coping with European integration is easier for the first deputy prime minister in charge of this integration than for one holding a post in the President’s Chancellery, but I’m not in a position to pass judgment on such matters. I can tell you that Brussels believes this decision won’t help the talks. Of course, none of the European Union, European Commission or European Council’s officials will make such a statement, but I can and I’m telling you, as a member of the European Parliament, that it was something no one had expected.”
What about his trip to Brussels as Secretary of the RNBO?
“Yes, his trip. It was a gesture, nothing else. It shows that Kliuiev has become versed in the European issues over the past couple of years. I believe he knows much more about them now than when he began studying them. I have seen politicians in Poland and other countries start dealing with European issues, getting the gist of the European process, then being unable to part with it. I think Kliuiev made a good decision; it shows that a number of politicians in the Party of Regions are actually supporting Ukraine’s integration with Europe.”
TYMOSHENKO PROBLEM COULD BE SOLVED
It is common knowledge that the signing of the association agreement is held back by Yulia Tymoshenko’s imprisonment. Do you think that the Verkhovna Rada’s passing of the Code of Criminal Procedure bill in the first reading is a step taken in the right direction?
“I think the Tymoshenko problem can be solved by the Court of Review. Needless to say, Ukraine’s domestic [political] situation will be assessed largely depending on that with Yulia Tymoshenko. No mysteries must remain here. In principle, no one is closely following any decisions being made in Ukraine. It’s just that those who take an interest in this country keep asking one question: ‘Will Yulia Tymoshenko be able to take part in the elections and how fair these elections will be?’”
During his recent visit [Polish Foreign Minister] Radoslaw Sikorski told Polish journalists he was disappointed with Ukraine’s domestic political conflict and that this obstructed Kyiv’s road to the European Union.
“That’s right. However, disappointment isn’t a political category. I can understand Sikorski and Polish diplomats, considering how much they invested in Ukraine when Poland chaired the EU, to no avail because the association agreement was never initialed; because the Tymoshenko issue wasn’t resolved in a manner acceptable to the European Union. Now everything depends on the outcome of the elections in Ukraine. I ask people how they feel about Ukraine and more often than not I hear in reply that the next elections are the only thing that matters.
“Ukraine has adopted the recommendations of the OSCE, CE, and EU observers in regard to its Law on Elections. They must be preserved.”
Some believe the current administration may postpone the elections, allegedly to secure stability. What would be the EU’s response?
“I don’t think there is this threat. The important thing for us is to know that the election procedures remain unchanged – and number two, that the election date remains the same. From what I know, all of your influential political forces have agreed to hold the elections in the spring of 2012. Should your administration try to cancel or postpone the elections, the response would be a negative one because this would run counter to the democratic standards.”
ORANGE REVOLUTION HAS MADE CHANGES
You must’ve spotted those slogans during the Putin-support rallies in Moscow that warned against the Orange Revolution in Russia. During his visit to Ukraine, Aleksei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of the Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy [Echo of Moscow], declared that what had happened in Ukraine wasn’t a revolution because nothing had changed afterward, because its political system remained the same. What do you think? Has the Orange Revolution been useful in any way?
“Let all of those who say that the Orange Revolution made no changes try to visualize the situation without this revolution. I don’t think that the Orange Revolution made no changes. I’m well aware of this approach. It was frequently used in Poland, in the second half of the 1990s when everyone was talking about the Roundtable and Solidarity that had failed to change anything. People felt disillusioned, yet I can’t even imagine what would have happened without all those roundtables and so on. Let those who can’t understand how the Orange Revolution has changed Ukraine visualize Ukraine following in Belarus’s footsteps back in 2004. Perhaps some in Russia and Ukraine will say this would be good, but I believe the younger Ukrainian generation wouldn’t think so – and I’m trying to see the situation through their eyes.”
There are quite a few young people who aren’t satisfied with what the current administration is doing.
“Precisely, and there will be more. Of course, one can talk about how much could have been accomplished in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution, but I think that questioning the need of this revolution for Ukraine would be unreasonable.”
Why is Russia portraying the Orange Revolution as a political bogeyman?
“Russia is now in a phase Ukraine passed before its Orange Revolution. Watching YouTube and commercials played by various channels, listening to Russian actors, reading what Mikhail Gorbachev or Russia’s bloggers write, one has the impression that Russia is living through a period Ukraine has lived through.”
BRZEZINSKI’S CIVILIZATIONAL IDEA
What about Zbigniew Brzezinski’s idea of transferring the EU headquarters to Kyiv, this ancient capital city of Kyivan Rus’? The Day described it as a civilizational idea, based on the concept of expanding the West by incorporating Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey.
“I’m familiar with this concept. We in Poland respect everything Mr. Brzezinski writes. The man is always a step ahead of what actually happens. However, I believe there are no preconditions for the implementation of this particular concept at the moment. This concept is interesting, but we have to study all concepts that unequivocally stress Ukraine’s status as part of Europe – and that of Kyiv as one of the most important centers of European progress; that there will be no United Europe unless we now discuss the possibilities of actual European relationships with Ukraine. I know it sounds like science fiction today, but this idea makes a very serious and important sense.”
