On Jan. 1 the rotating presidency of the European Union passes from Great Britain to Austria. Vienna headed the EU only once, in 1998, three years after joining the union. This time around its agenda will be much broader than in 1998. Austria assumes the presidency in a complex situation. In the outgoing year France and the Netherlands massively rejected the European Constitution. Vienna will handle the early stages of EU accession talks with Turkey and Croatia while dealing with Romania and Bulgaria, which hope to join the EU by 2007. Austrian Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Miess discusses Austria’s priorities during its presidency and its vision of the EU’s relations with Ukraine in the following interview with The Day .
“What is your assessment of the situation in the EU and the state of the EU’s relations with neighbors at the time when Austria assumes its presidency?”
“The situation in the European Union is not bad now. It has been through harder times. We have fully completed the enlargement of the EU. It was a major historical mission and a great historical accomplishment, whose scale we will be able to comprehend only with time. As recently as two decades ago nobody could even imagine that such a process could be possible. Now we face new challenges. We must complete the process of adopting the European Constitution. Furthermore, Europe lacks dynamism, and to a certain extent citizens lack trust in their large state — the European Union.”
“What else, aside from historical reasons, accounts for Austria’s great interest in the Western Balkans?”
“Of course, there are certain historical reasons behind this. Austria believes that the Western Balkans region is essential to the stability of Europe as a whole. There were many cases when the threat of danger and instability in Europe emerged from this region. Thus, the EU now faces the task of bringing these countries closer to itself for the sake of stability.”
“What steps do you consider to be instrumental in the implementation of Ukraine’s European strategy?”
“Implementing the Ukraine — EU Action Plan is very important. The first assessment of Ukraine’s progress on this plan will take place during Austria’s EU presidency. At the Ukraine — EU Summit in December we concluded that Kyiv is successfully progressing in this direction. If Ukraine continues to fulfill the plan’s requirements, the official assessment of its implementation will be positive. This will be the first signal that Ukraine takes its relationship with the EU seriously. Another major signal will be the parliamentary elections next March. They must be honest, transparent, and fair, which is something I personally do not doubt. Yet the very process of the election campaign will be important. Ambassadors of EU member states recently met with Central Electoral Commission chairman Davydovych. His account of the measures that are undertaken to prepare the elections impressed us greatly.”
“Without a doubt, today there is no discussing Ukraine’s membership in the EU. However, the Baltic nations and Poland have said that the very prospect of membership, a statement to the effect that Ukraine can become a full EU member in the future, will facilitate internal reforms in Ukraine along with a consolidation of its foreign policy strategy aimed at European integration.”
“This question is clearly regulated in the Treaty on the European Union. Article 49 states that every European country which meets certain criteria has the right to apply for EU membership. This prospect exists a priori without any additional signals, and nobody has the right to take this prospect away from European countries that want to join the EU. However, the sooner Ukraine fulfills the provisions of the Ukraine — EU Action Plan within the framework of the European neighborhood policy, the closer the prospect of Ukraine’s membership will get. After this plan expires, obviously a new plan will be endorsed. In general, the prospect of membership depends on how quickly Ukraine implements reforms and achieves EU standards.”
“A large part of Ukrainian territory used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is also true of Croatia, which enjoys so much support from Vienna in its EU aspirations. What do Austrians know about Ukraine?”
“Unfortunately, I have to admit every time that Ukraine is not known well enough in Austria. Thanks to the Orange Revolution, Austrians learned a great deal about such a country on the world map as Ukraine. But it always dismays me how little they know about Ukraine, unlike Ukrainians, who know very much about Austria. Unfortunately, today few young Austrians know that a part of Ukraine used to belong to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Few know that Galicia and Bukovyna used to be the empire’s crown lands. Very few people realize that this makes Ukraine a totally European state. This fact has to be proved and explained to such Austrians all the time, for they still often identify Ukraine with Russia.”
“Austria’s presidency of the EU will be especially strong also because one of the leading posts in the European Commission, that of Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, is occupied by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austria’s former foreign minister. As we know, people who work in the European Commission do not represent their home country alone, but all of the EU. At the same time, their past often influences their activity. For example, European Commission’s former chairman Romano Prodi, an Italian, was extremely preoccupied with the problems of the Mediterranean region and North Africa, which is close to Italy. He was much more concerned about North Africa than about Eastern Europe. To what extent does the work of Benita Ferrero-Waldner reflect her Austrian position?”
“Well, Romano Prodi’s statement to the effect that Ukraine will not become an EU member was a big mistake. In fact, according to one unwritten rule, each newly-appointed EU commissioner must leave everything national behind. This can be said about our former European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, and Fisheries Franz Fischler, who occasionally even criticized Austria for its agricultural policy. Any commissioner acts in the spirit of European interests, leaving all national interests out of consideration. Still, I must say that Benita Ferrero-Waldner fully realizes the significance of Ukraine. Austria itself upholds a position that Ukraine is very important to Europe and plays a major role within the framework of the neighborhood policy, and that processes of bringing Ukraine closer to the EU should be accelerated.”
