The second Eastern Partnership summit meeting, held at the end of last week in Warsaw, revealed grave difference of values between the European Union and the countries involved in this Poland-Sweden initiative. The most obvious moment arrived when the leaders of Ukraine, Molodva, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia refused to sign the declaration on the situation in Belarus, passed by all EU countries. In this document, the leaders of the 27 EU nations voice their deep concern about the deterioration of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. They also condemned the ongoing attacks on the freedom of the media and appealed for the immediate release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners.
At the same time, the joint declaration of the Eastern Partnership Warsaw summit states that the Eastern Partnership is based on the shared values and the principles of freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights, as well as on the rule of law. Aliaksandr Lebiadko, one of the Belarusian oppositionists, told The Day that Ukraine was against the passing of such a declaration.
So now many European capitals are wondering (and they will obviously keep wondering) just how sincere Ukraine’s leaders are in their European choice, which implies the respect of the abovementioned values in the first place. So the representatives of Ukrainian NGOs that took part in “The Eastern Partnership Conference: towards a European Community of democracy, prosperity, and a stronger civil society,” held on September 29 in Warsaw, were right after all. Maksym Boroda, assistant director, International Center of Political Research, stated that Ukraine shared the values, “but we only have them on paper. Meanwhile, in the EU they are effective in practice. That is why we should not propagate these values, but rather make them work in the Eastern Partnership countries,” underlined Boroda.
Kyiv and Brussels differ in their idea of the aim of the association agreement. “Our joint effort with the European Union will soon result in the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. This is a step towards Europe, in which there will be more freedom. The freedom of trade. The freedom of services exchange. The freedom of movement of capitals and labor,” declared Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych as he spoke before the members of the summit.
At the same time, he never mentioned the fundamental values underlying the European community, which Ukraine so craves to join. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities have had a lot of problems here recently, and they can impede the signing of the Association and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreements at the EU summit in December this year. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk openly spoke about this at the closing press conference. When asked by a journalist if Yulia Tymoshenko’s trial had not prejudiced Ukraine’s aspirations for rapprochement with the EU he said, “We believe that the mistreatment of the opposition and the breaking of standards are badly damaging to these aspirations and can influence the negotiations.”
Grave concern about Tymoshenko case was also voiced by Herman Van Rompuy, President of the EU Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. Van Rompuy noted in particular, “We expressed our concerns about the fate of the former prime minister, and we expressed our rejection of a possible selective use of criminal judicial measures against members of the previous administration.” He added that it is “a serious issue in our relations, and we have been very clear about it. These concerns are very important and will be taken into consideration.”
Thus, against the background of these statements by high European officials, Kyiv’s insistent demands to include the provision on Ukraine’s prospective membership in the EU in the Association Agreement look quite bizarre. How can this be discussed while the foundations of democracy, freedom of speech, and rule of law are called in question in Ukraine? It is quite clear that the regime has got to work to completely eliminate these issues in the first place, and only then to demand more from the EU, according to the “more for more” rule.
However it looks as if the government in Kyiv is losing touch with reality. This impression was left by the words said by the head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on air of Channel 5 last Saturday: “Ukraine is a great state. It is not Albania, it is not Macedonia, it is not Croatia. All that is not big is easier to digest. But such a big piece as Ukraine, it is not to be digested, it’s to be added to the body of the European Union. And of course just like Poland, Ukraine’s going to be an influential and important player, whose opinion all the major old EU members will have to take into consideration.”
Firstly, we would like to ask the minister what this “not digestion, but adding of Ukraine to the body of the EU” means. The admission of Ukraine to this elite club by Ukraine’s own rules? But this is impossible, since every club has its own rules, which are to be respected by each player – otherwise they will never get any further than the doorstep.
Secondly, how on earth is Ukraine going to “make the old EU members take it into consideration”? Maybe, the men from Mykhailivska Square [the official address of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – Ed.] were carried away in reverie after hearing the words said by the deputy head of the British government Nick Clegg, who called Ukraine a sleeping giant with a big potential. “Ukraine has got everything to become a European giant: energy resources, agriculture, access to big markets, and enviable human resources,” said the British politician as he spoke at the Eastern Partnership conference. But it is no good taking some words out of context and leaving something else out – because Clegg also emphasized that Ukraine, with a population exceeding that of Poland by eight million, produces only one-third of the latter’s GDP. According to him, Ukraine only could become a European giant if it built a dynamic market economy in combination with sustainable democracy: “So there can be no backsliding. In order to attract wealth, foreign investors must be confident of decent protections under Ukrainian law and in Ukrainian courts. In order to complete negotiations with the EU – negotiations that could revolutionize Ukraine’s economy – we must see fair elections, a free press and a guarantee that opponents of the Government are not persecuted for their views. Otherwise EU parliaments will find it very difficult to ratify the agreement that is now tantalizingly close.”
Nevertheless, Ukraine should be grateful to Clegg who made it clear in his speech that the UK does not see these agreements [the Association Agreement and the DCFTA. – Author] as an alternative to the EU membership.
Britain is the only old EU member to clearly and consistently maintain that Ukraine must be member of the EU and NATO – of course, if the necessary criteria are met. As for the rest of the “old nations,” Kyiv is still to convince them of not only its dedication to liberal economy (which Ukraine’s president is never tired of repeating), but, more importantly, to prove its devotion to democracy, freedom of speech, and respect for human rights. The EU leaders send a clear message to the Ukrainian leadership: you should play by our rules, in other words, adapt your legislation to that of the EU, and instill European standards in Ukraine. Otherwise, the EU leaders will have nothing to discuss with the president of Ukraine. This was made especially clear by the meeting of Yanukovych and Angela Merkel: instead of the scheduled 40 minutes, they talked only for 10. There is nothing else to add to this.
So far, Poland remains the only influential EU partner, interested in the signing of the Association Agreement and DCFTA. And, according to The Day’s sources in the Polish government, Warsaw will do its best to get these agreements signed at the December summit. Moreover, it is Poland that advises Kyiv how the situation with Tymoshenko’s case can be settled via the passing of relevant legislation. Now it is up to the president of Ukraine to prove that he can get this law through Parliament and thus solve the problem which hampers the signing of those vital agreements.
The Western experts note that the DCFTA will improve the well-being of Ukrainian citizens and radically change the institutions of Ukraine. But that requires institutions which are not yet found in Ukraine, such as the free and independent judicial system, said Alan Mayhew, professor at the Sussex European Institute, University of Sussex. “I hope that the EU will be patient, because it is an incredibly great challenge. It will take decades to implement the agreement,” remarked the British expert. He also added, “If Ukraine implements the DCFTA, it can fully integrate in certain sectors, or even fully economically integrate in the EU. And then, everything will depend on the EU state. Article 9 of the Treaty of Rome says that a European nation, which meets the criteria, can apply for membership. If a country implements the DCFTA in 10 or 20 years’ time, it will be a perfect EU membership applicant. But before that, the country has to adapt its legislation to that of the EU, which is not an easy matter.”
One can just wish that our government, which only says “don’t listen to what we say, look at what we do,” would get down to business at last, stop asking for prospects and looking for workarounds on the way to the EU, and start about implementing real reforms, which can bring us closer to Europe.
