Marek Siwiec has first-hand knowledge of Ukrainian politics. During the Orange Revolution in the fall of 2004 he and the then president of Poland, Alexander Kwasniewski, took part in roundtable debates. Since then he has been a frequent visitor to Kyiv.
During his last visit on the eve of the parliamentary elections Siwiec, who is the chairman of the European Parliament Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, was optimistic about the future of our state. This time he was in Ukraine to take part in the workshop “Yalta European Strategy.” By sheer coincidence, the forum was held during the current crisis in Ukraine. The world’s leading experts and politicians are witnesses to a rather infamous page in Ukraine’s modern history. What are Mr. Siwiec’s views now? Does he see any way to overcome the crisis? This is the subject of an exclusive interview with him.
“Erkki Tuomioja, who currently holds the rotating EU Presidency, said recently that Ukraine is ‘in a sorry state’ and deserves a better government. Do you share this viewpoint as a member of the European Parliament?”
“Ukrainian leaders should learn two important things: coexistence and compromise. Nearly four months have passed since the parliamentary elections, but I see no readiness to seek a compromise. What I really see (and I don’t mean any specific party) is a string of attempts to cheat a partner rather than to cooperate with him. We welcomed the fact that the elections were free and fair. However, their results did not show a clear vision of what Ukraine wants to do.”
“Do you have the feeling that the Orange Revolution, which you once supported, has suffered a defeat?”
“For me, the Orange Revolution is an historic happening. The Maidan events were of historic importance and had a lasting effect on the future of Ukraine. But all this is in the past. I associate the Orange Revolution with a good beginning for building a future-oriented coalition. But this never happened. It does not matter to me now who is Orange and who is not. These are just historical recollections. It is important — and my European Parliament colleagues share this point of view — that all the parties that won parliamentary seats in the March elections should start doing their job. We can say that some winners may be more popular than others. But from the viewpoint of democracy, they are all equal.”
“What should be the way out of this rather complex situation? To allow the newly-formed ‘red-pink-blue’ coalition freedom of action or perhaps to adopt other measures, for example, call early elections?”
“I would like to see the results of the new coalition. Its first result is the election of Oleksandr Moroz as Verkhovna Rada speaker. I’d like to see other results: there are none so far. As for early elections, the international community will not understand this.”
“Is the ‘anti-crisis coalition’ going to be stable, since they include the communists?”
“I would regard the presence of the communists in parliament as history’s joke. In the 15 years of Ukrainian independence the Communist Party was never part of the government. Everyone, beginning with Leonid Kuchma’s pro-governmental forces, considered it an adversary. Now the communists are building a government coalition. Look at this party’s program — it is totally anti-European. Some can say that the communists form a minority. In my view, even their minority status is a very serious and dangerous thing. All the parties, except for the communists, favored Ukraine’s European integration in the last elections. For me, this was significant.
“Frankly speaking, the current coalition is not the one I dreamed of. But very often, if we also take into account the Polish experience, even worse decisions were made as a result of elections, although there was an opportunity to make better ones at a certain moment. I still believe there is a basis for broad negotiations involving various political forces. Those who wished to form a democratic coalition were full of egoism, so their efforts were in vain. This disappointed me as a friend of Ukraine.”
“Do you reject the idea of a broadly based coalition?”
“I don’t. Ukraine is facing a serious challenge. The country must carry out radical transformations that require broad public support. If you look at the parties’ programs, you will see that the difference between them is not as great as between the leaders and historical antagonisms. In my opinion, the main thing now is to build a broadly based coalition under the president’s auspices. If the coalition fails to come to terms on a whole range of issues, it can at least make a deal on some specific matters.
“For example, the partners have agreed that the coalition is being formed for a year. Then we shall see: if it manages to work for a year, it will continue to work. If not, a new election must be held in a year’s time — but not now. Elections should be held if there is a crisis in the government. But where is the government? What kind of crisis is this?”
“Poland played an important role as a mediator between the opposition and the government during the Orange Revolution. Would you like to take up another mediating mission to reconcile the warring parties?”
“First of all, these parties should ask us to do this. Gone are the days when the Soviet Union could send its troops to Hungary and Czechoslovakia as part of ‘friendly’ assistance. Neither you nor we need this kind of assistance. But we are prepared to extend mediation assistance. I plan to meet Ukrainian leaders within the framework of the “Yalta European Strategy” seminar and we will talk about this. Why is this necessary? There is one factor to be reckoned with-time. Every week Ukraine is losing the most important thing — the trust of its international partners. You can form a coalition, but it is very difficult to make up for lost time.”
“The US expert Bruce Jackson opined recently that the political crisis has thrown Ukraine back one year.”
“Indeed. At least six months have been wasted. He may be right: as far as achieving foreign political goals is concerned, Ukraine has lost more than six months.”
“How can the new coalition format affect (or has it already affected) the prospect of Ukraine’s accession to NATO?”
“NATO? Where is it? Even the Orange coalition partners, to say nothing of the communists, disagreed on this matter. It takes two to tango. NATO agrees, but so far you don’t. How can you plan anything in these conditions? Invitations can only be sent to a willing party. And what about the events in the Crimea? I don’t understand why the Ukrainian leaders avoid speaking to their people about NATO. They are unable to explain to the grassroots that NATO provides more security. I can say, from the viewpoint of a former secretary of Poland’s National Security Council, that Ukraine has all the prerequisites to be a full-fledged member of NATO. And failure to go in this direction may cost Ukraine dearly later. But it is up to you to decide.”
“What attitude do you think the EU will adopt vis-a-vis Ukraine now?”
“We need Ukraine as a reliable partner. The Parliamentary Committee for European Integration is my partner. I would like to know who is going to chair it. We can begin a dialogue by offering you our wholehearted support. Assistance can go through this channel, i.e., the European Parliament Delegation, because it comprises different countries and parties. What unites us is a positive attitude to Ukraine. But so far we cannot see the partner.”
“Do you think Ukraine can now forget about any signals on membership from the EU?”
“There were signals and statements of this kind. But the problem is that the process of joining the EU differs somewhat from the procedure of entering NATO. Nobody invites anybody to the European Union. One day you have to say ‘we are ready.’ And to be ready, a lot of work must be done.
“At the Yalta conference we will be discussing scenarios of Ukraine joining the EU as soon as possible. It is not a problem of negotiations as such; it is work inside the country that matters. All this can be assessed. I think that at the end of this conference we will be able to say when Ukraine can become an EU member, provided all the homework is done in Ukraine, not in Brussels. It should be noted that Brussels will be taking a step back each time. This is the current logic in Europe. If you say that you have done this, they will tell you to do that.”
