“We have witnessed an impressive breakthrough in our bilateral relations,” Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana stressed during his visit to Kyiv. Bucharest really wants only to cajole the West into granting quick NATO members by showing that it maintains good relations with its neighbors, Ukraine included. This is how representatives of the Ukrainian leadership described the alleged breakthrough for The Day.
Relations between Ukraine and Romania have been far from warm, with both countries’ diplomats never failing to comment confidentially on their respective claims against each other. Officially, however, the diplomats typically loudly trumpet their undying friendship and constant cooperation. “We want to preserve our solidarity on the road of our countries toward the European Union,” Geoana declared. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Zlenko echoed the same sentiments, praising the results from his meeting with his Romanian opposite number.
Among other things, both ministers reiterated the readiness of Kyiv and Bucharest to maintain productive cooperation in delimiting the Black Sea continental shelf. As if the geography were not just as ready for delimitation ten years ago. They were ready then but their views on how delimitation should be conducted did not and still do not coincide. It turned out during the talks in Kyiv that both parties have paid much attention to expanding trade and economic cooperation, quite in line with the good old tradition to talk trade but not develop it. Apart from this, both sides discussed the forthcoming introduction by Romania of a visa regime with Ukraine, with lenient terms yet again promised Kyiv. The diplomats also discussed observance of the rights of national minorities, with the issue supposedly taking the top line on both countries’ diplomatic agendas.
Meanwhile, it seems that both countries have decided to make the best of the situation. Romania cannot spurn circumstances which are definitely beyond its control: the European Union after promising to open its embrace to ten new candidate countries in 2004, told Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania to cool their heels in its waiting room awhile. Add to this that Romania cannot join NATO for the time being as it has not delimited its borders with its neighbors, while the absence of problems, border problems included, is a major precondition put up by the alliance for would-be members. Meanwhile, one Western commentator, notably, member of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly Meckel has assumed that the border issue will not dominate the West’s decision on Romania.
On behalf of his government Mircea Geoana proposed setting up a Ukrainian-Romanian Partnership For Europe to build cooperation within the triangle of Ukraine, Poland, and Romania. In the Romanian minister’s view, “Together with Poland, Romania and Ukraine could create the balance so needed in the center of Europe now.” The big question remains whether the parties are genuinely interested and willing to implement this idea as quite similar initiatives were proposed several years before by Polish President Kwasniewski but have made little if any headway since.
From the outset, the Ukrainian- Romanian talks were dominated by the issue of respecting the human rights of ethnic minorities, with about 67,000 Ukrainians living in Romania and almost 135,000 Romanians in Ukraine. According to Anatoly Zlenko, there are 99 Romanian language magnet schools in Ukraine, with nearly 20 newspapers, magazines, radio and television channels coming out in Romanian. In his turn, Mircea Geoana assured everybody that ethnic Ukrainian schoolchildren go to 89 Ukrainian magnet schools, and that the Ukrainian language is taught to about 10,000 schoolchildren in Romania by 149 teachers. Sadly, these figures are far from true, Ukrainian diplomats told The Day. There are no Ukrainian language magnet schools in Romania and the Ukrainian language Taras Shevchenko Lyceum in Sighetu-Marmatiei remains Romania’s only educational institution of this kind.
So much for the baggage of allegedly concrete results taken by Romanian Foreign Minister Geoana home from Ukraine. The border delimitation issue has again been shelved, but sides still have a grain of hope for solving it. Next January Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh will go to Bucharest, with Romania’s President Ion Iliescu expected in Kyiv in the first half of 2002.
