A delegation from the European Parliament (EP), tasked with observing the early parliamentary election in Ukraine and led by head of the EP delegation in the Cooperation Committee EU-Ukraine, Croatian politician Andrej Plenkovic, is now in our country. Let us recall that he has recently been appointed to this position, making him responsible for cooperation between the Verkhovna Rada and the EP, and, therefore, a frequent visitor to Ukraine. He told The Day he saw many similarities between the current situation in the east of Ukraine and the Balkan crisis of the 1990s.
Mr. Plenkovic, you are here in Ukraine for two days. What is your opinion about Ukraine’s readiness to election?
“My impression is that the Ukrainian authorities did their utmost to organize early parliamentary elections according to the Ukrainian laws and international standards, given especially difficult circumstances in two eastern oblasts – Donetsk and Luhansk. The European Parliament’s Delegation is composed of 14 Members. We are part of the International election observation mission with our colleagues – parliamentarians from the OSCE, Council of Europe and NATO assemblies. Our discussions included dialog with a number of Ukrainian politicians and leaders of political parties, Head of the Central electoral commission, civil society, think tanks, media representatives and EU and ODIHR diplomats.”
And what is your expectation from these elections?
“My expectation is that the Ukrainian political landscape, after these elections, will ensure that swiftly new Verkhovna Rada is constituted and that new and stable government is formed. I expect the future Government to continue undertaking European oriented reforms in particular regarding the rule of law, fight against corruption, as well as economic, tax and financial reforms. The European Union will support the reform efforts of Ukraine and notably the implementation of the Association Agreement which will be provisionally applied as of November 1, 2014.”
Do you think it is possible for Ukraine to fulfill this double task of dealing with quasi secession part of Donbas and succeeding in implementation of the abovementioned reforms?
“Ukraine is a great nation and big country. It has two very difficult challenges. I understand that priority is to do everything possible to reintegrate into state’s constitutional order the currently inaccessible territory for Ukrainian authorities that is parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well as Crimea which was illegally and in violation of the international law annexed by Russia. In that respect you need the support of the international community and you can draw conclusions on experiences of my country Croatia, which in 1998 peacefully reintegrated with the support of United Nations Eastern Slavonia region. We also adopted set of laws on amnesty, convalidation of documents, decentralization aimed at minority inclusion and representation on regional and city levels etc. Today, Ukrainian people have chosen Europe as a direction. That was the message of Euromaidan. That’s why we are having early elections. It was a bottom-up initiative and this choice was confirmed by simultaneous ratification of the Association Agreement in Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament. This choice should be respected and supported. Therefore I am convinced that Ukraine has ability to work simultaneously on two major objectives: European reforms and peaceful reintegration.”
Some experts are drawing different scenarios on Donbas. One of these is Transnistria, the other – Abkhazia and some say about Balkanization. Do you see any parallels with what happened in your region?
“Ukraine is under hybrid aggression by Russia. It is true that there are many parallels between the situation in Croatia in 1991 and today’s situation in Ukraine. However the position of the European Union and European Parliament especially through our resolutions was always clear – full respect of Ukrainian territorial integrity. As Chair of the EP-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation committee, I always underline it is critical to uphold this stance. In order to succeed in that effort your President Poroshenko has chosen the path of peace. More than 3,600 people according to official data lost their lives, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees, physical destruction in eastern regions is tremendous. That cost has already been too high. So, the common approach should be peace and implementation of Minsk commitments, especially by Moscow who can exert pressure on local leaders and then we could gradually see the reintegration of the territory. The European Union will never accept the fait accompli and Russia’s attempt to create a new frozen conflict in the southeastern Ukraine.”
You mentioned it. So, what can be done by West as a whole including EU, US, Canada, and Japan to force Putin fulfill provisions of Minsk protocol that was signed by Russian representative?
“The talks in Normandy plus format in Milan were already a good possibility to increase pressure on Moscow. This type of contacts at the highest level by the key international actors should continue. I think that restrictive measures imposed by the EU against Russia have already proved to be having effects. These measures cannot be scaled down unless we see that there is really fulfillment of the obligation by Moscow in respect to the Minsk agreement. That is the key. In regard to wider efforts of the international community, I think that Ukraine has strong interest in solidifying its association relationship with the European Union and its partnership with NATO. The Association Agreement will elevate the quality, substance and dynamics of the relationship between EU and Ukraine. Our dialog will also help in facilitating the process of the reintegration of your territory.”
But how much time is needed so that the effect of sanctions would be such that Russia itself will start to fulfill its commitments?
“It is also important that people in Donbas realize that they are better off in Ukraine than somewhere else. The restrictive measures of the EU towards Russia will continue to produce effects which will eventually have consequences for the policy of Moscow. The sustained pressure on Russia should continue in parallel with skillful and determined political dialog which the Ukrainian leadership is conducting. It is the right way, which the EU supports.”
Do not you see the threat that this determination can or would in some way be eroded by corruption which is exported to Europe by Russia? What can be done in Europe by Parliament to stop this Russian export?
“Corruption is a negative phenomenon particularly visible in the countries in transition. But neither the members of EU are immune to that opaque behavior. Therefore it is a horizontal priority in terms of undertaking reforms in the rule of law area. When it comes to the political and legal commitment by the EU member states and their leaders vis-a-vis Ukraine, I am convinced they will all stick to their promises and ratify the Association Agreement and collectively respect the common restrictive measures which were adopted due to a justified reason. And no special economic and energy interests should interfere or alter the policy line which was agreed by all Member States.”
Can you say when Croatia Parliament will ratify it?
“I have already appealed several times publicly to the Croatian government to send into procedure the Law on ratification of Ukraine’s Association Agreement. I know that the Croatian government will soon have on its agenda three laws of ratification – of the Association Agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. They will as a package go in the swift procedure in Hrvatski sabor and will certainly be ratified. I always mention – with a lot of respect – that Ukraine was the third country (after Slovenia and Lithuania) that internationally recognized Croatia in December 1991. The Croats did not forget it.”
You probably heard that President Poroshenko set 2020 the year when Ukraine will be ready to apply for membership in EU. Are these objectives real taking into account experience of Croatia joining EU?
“At this stage of Ukraine’s relationship with EU priority is to work on the implementation of the Association Agreement. Ukraine is a European country and any European state, in accordance with the Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty, can apply to become a member of the EU provided it respects fundamental values of freedom, democracy, rule of law and respect of human rights. It is a careful political decision and assessment for Ukraine to decide when the right timing for the application will come. For application to be successful, it ought to be done in close consultation with the EU side. Realistically, at the moment, I can say from my experience – since Croatia was the last country to join – that it has taken us much longer time than we thought. Croatian Association Agreement was signed on October 29, 2001. It entered into force on February 1, 2005. We applied for membership in February 2003. We started negotiations on October 3, 2005. We closed negotiations in June 2011 and signed the Accession Treaty in December 2011. We joined the EU on July 1, 2013. We had our problems in the accession process: internal reforms, open bilateral issues, ICTY cooperation. It was all but easy, but we managed. For the context and the mood of the EU’s enlargement policy, one has to take into account the consequences of the institutional crises of the EU, consequences of global financial crises, consequences of difficult economic situation and eurozone crises, fear of migration etc. All of these elements are not conducive and favorable for pro-enlargement atmosphere in the EU. So, Ukraine needs to be realistic in assessing the right time for the application. The President’s plan is good and the direction too. The timing will have to be decided in the medium term future.”
Mr. Plenkovic, in one interview you mentioned that one of your tasks would be to make EU more visible in Ukraine. Why do you consider this important?
“First of all the European Parliament is the institution that represents European citizens I strongly believe it should also be a promoter of the European idea. I belong to the European people’s party whose leaders were the founders of the European Union 65 years ago. I personally believe in the European project. I worked on it since my student’s days. So, for 20 years, I invested all of my knowledge, energy and experience in bringing Croatia to this continental historic political project. I think that I, now as a Head of the Delegation of the European Parliament, have an obligation to promote the European idea in Ukraine. I do not have any pretention that we as MEP’s will be the only ones doing it, but we want to contribute in letting the citizens of Ukraine feel what European project is. I read that around 70 percent of Ukrainians never visited any of the EU member states. If that data is correct, than I think we together with Ukrainian authorities, civil society, academy, media and all other actors have a serious work to do.”
In one of his latest speeches President of European Council Herman van Rompuy said that EU should be outside strong and inside more caring about people. Do you think that recently confirmed by Parliament and European Councils team of Juncker will be capable to realize such task?
“Jean-Claude Juncker has a very good and capable team. He was my ‘spitzenkandidat’ (top candidate) for the President of the Commission in May EP election. I was heading the list of the EPP in Croatia. In all my speeches, I said I wanted three victories: our center-right coalition list to win most votes, my party HDZ to win most seats and Juncker to become President of the Commission. I fulfilled all three objectives: our list got six seats, my party has 4 out of 11 Croatian MEP’s, and Juncker is the President of the new Commission.
“Together with the MEP’s from Central and Eastern Europe we said that the policy of enlargement of the EU and the Neighborhood policy should be visible in Juncker’s Commission work. Commissioner Johannes Hahn, will work on neighborhood and enlargement. He is a very good politician and skillful commissioner, previously in charge of EU regional policy. The cohesion policy is the heart of European Union because it is more than one third of the budget and it is in essence the operationalization of the principle of solidarity through budgetary redistribution for projects. It elevates the level of development of all the regions in the EU. Now with that experience, Hahn has the task to use the funds for EU enlargement and neighborhood to lift the standard of living in our neighboring countries. I believe that one of the first visits for Hahn, as the new Commissioner responsible for Ukraine, will be Kyiv.”
Can you tell us how you become or were chosen as Head of the EP-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation committee?
“In this new EP legislature it was the EPP group’s turn to nominate its MEP as a Head of the Delegation for Ukraine. Through a special procedure in our Group we decided that this important dossier is allocated to Croatian Party HDZ and thus to me. I am honored to take on this responsibility. I think it is a good opportunity for me to contribute to the Ukraine’s EU path, given the recent history and the accession process of my country. My personal experience as a lawyer, diplomat and politician – who was involved in the enlargement process, EU’s foreign and neighborhood policy, will hopefully also be useful. I will try to do my best in offering the expertise which is still fresh.”
