“Ukrainians are Europeans!” These words of Poland’s ex-president Alexander Kwasniewski, who is one of the EU’s leading politicians, was a constant refrain in his discussion with students and lecturers of Donbas higher educational establishments, which took place in Donetsk last week. The meeting was held within the framework of the European Debate Forum organized by the Yalta European Strategy, and was just one of the stops on the Polish politician’s visit to various Ukrainian cities. In each of them the politician talked primarily with the student elite: Kwasniewski thinks it is the younger generation that will decide the country’s future and that it is young people who should assess all the prospects and possibilities of Eurointegration.
Donetsk was the last city on Kwasniewski’s itinerary, which included Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk. According to the politician, the miners’ capital was especially interesting for him.
In the context of Eurointegration Donbas is a “region of paradoxes,” according to the Polish politician. On the one hand, the level of distrust toward the European Union is at a maximum high; on the other, this region will profit most when Eurointegration finally takes place. Kwasniewski told The Day’s reporter that Europe is the “main helper of industrial development in the Donbas.” Europe can offer this region a number of programs that could bring its industrial potential to a qualitatively new level.
The former president of Poland advised the Donbas to focus attention mainly on the coal-mining industry, with which work must be conducted “seriously and openly.” He thinks that mines are needed both in Ukraine and in Europe, but coal will not be the chief energy source in the future, and therefore miners who may lose their jobs should be taken care of first of all. “Programs should be developed that will help these people to change their profession: some will retire, and others will go to school. Ukraine is not the first country with this problem. But there are countries that have solved it, and we have to adopt their experience,” the Polish politician underlined.
Kwasniewski also advised his listeners to borrow from Europe’s experience in a whole range of other directions. Our country is already European, not only geographically but also culturally, by its world outlook, values, and even philosophy. “Ukraine is a strong place in European history. Therefore, the European perspective is possible for Ukraine. For us, you are an important and necessary part of the EU, and we should look at you with respect,” Kwasniewski said.
The Polish politician says that in the last decades important events within the European context have taken place in Ukraine, including the referendum of 1991, “when Ukraine declared that it wants to be independent.” That was the first one, and the Orange Revolution, “which was the voice of free Ukraine’s generation,” was the second. Both events, in his opinion, not only proved that the country has made a considerable move toward integration, but also that it has enough responsibility to show itself with dignity and not to lose face.
“You made us understand that things which will be decided in Ukraine cannot be decided in Brussels, Paris, and never in Moscow,” Kwasniewski admitted. He says that integration into Europe does not entail the risk that any country will lose its self-identity. On the contrary, in understanding other values, conducting a dialogue with other countries, it is easier to comprehend your own national values. He thinks that Ukraine should talk more about Eurointegration today, discuss all its aspects, “tame this animal and understand that it is not an animal but a good and successful structure...The ideas of the EU, of European cooperation and European dialogue have, above all, the highest humanitarian qualities. This is not a question of money. This is above all an understanding that in the European family we respect ourselves and each other. We think about how to organize compromise, not kompromat (grey propaganda). We think about how to organize cooperation...to create a Europe that will be many-sided because it is different in its essence,” the Polish ex-president stated.
This European politician’s main recommendation for the Ukrainian government and the Donetsk authorities is dialogue. In order to overcome the population’s distrust, it must be acquainted with Europe as much as possible. Kwasniewski advice to the Donbas is to single out a special aspect in this dialogue and underline the fact that Ukraine’s accession to the European Union does not mean at all that it should turn its back completely on Russia. “Historically and practically, Ukraine will develop its relations with Russia and the EU. The EU is simply helping other countries to develop better and faster,” he underlined.
The local authorities in the Donbas, in their turn, stated that they will hold several consultations and discussions of this issue before imposing any will on the population. There is a high probability that in the nearest future the Donbas will look differently at the European Union.
However, some deputies from the Donetsk Oblast Administration, members of the Natalia Vitrenko Bloc, already demonstrated that they are not ready for a dialogue. Bloc members not only organized a small anti-NATO protest in a building on the campus of Donetsk National University, the leader of this fraction, Natalia Bilotserkivska, was present in the hall, constantly interrupting the guest whom she also managed to offend at the end of the discussion by declaring that “Poland sold out to NATO.”
The president responded to this insult very seriously, stressing that it is simply intolerable for politicians to make such statements. But he said later that he has become inured to such remarks. “I have not taken part in such a political discussion for the last two years, but I feel that I still have some talent for it.” Be that as it may, the younger generation’s reaction should be considered the most important one, and Kwasniewski was especially counting on it.
Oleksandr Ivanov, a student at the Philology Department of Donetsk National University told The Day: “We have come here not just to listen to Kwasniewski. We wanted to learn about his position. It is important for us to hear that he is calling for a sober assessment of the politics taking place in Europe and Ukraine. It is high time for everyone to understand that we have a small fatherland - the Donbas - and a big one - Ukraine. That is obvious. We don’t have do divide this notion, we have to think about the future.”
Kwasniewski underlined that he is ready to continue helping Ukraine. “I have been, I am, and will continue to be Ukraine’s advocate in the world. I will always be your best friend, but I ask you not to forfeit your historical chances,” he said at the end of his visit.
