JOHN MARONE, KYIV
YUSHCHENKO GETS SPANKED AT EU-UKRAINE SUMMIT
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has always had a special relationship with the European Union, which over the years of his administration has developed into something like his country’s parental advisor.
During the Thirteenth EU-Ukraine summit recently held in Kyiv, this parent-child relationship shone through like never before, with EU officials rebuking the embattled Ukrainian leader for failing to implement promises of reform.
One might even argue that Yushchenko’s presidency would have never been born without the parental assistance of the EU.
During the uncertain days of the Orange Revolution, when Yushchenko was still challenging the fraud-marred victory of his pro-Russian challenger Viktor Yanukovych, it was the EU that answered calls to mediate a solution favorable to the pro-Western candidate.
Since then, the battle for executive power in Ukraine has continued (between Yushchenko, Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko), amid regular calls by the president and other Ukrainian politicians for EU mediation, support and endorsement.
The EU has been Ukraine’s Promised Land, its guarantor against a return to Russian hegemony since Independence almost a generation ago.
The relationship reached its peak in 2005, when Yushchenko emerged victorious from the Orange Revolution to widespread international acclaim.
Yushchenko embraced Western integration far more than either of his post-Independence predecessors. Unfortunately, the embrace has yet to turn into a meaningful relationship and sometimes sinks to the level of a sloppy, pathetic kiss.
Now faced with single-digit approval ratings ahead of an election scheduled for next month, Mr. Yushchenko, however, has no choice but to keep promising his compatriots, voters, entry into the Promised Land, to keep beating the drum of Western-style reform.
But during the recent EU-Ukraine summit, it was Yushchenko, and to some extent Ukrainian hopes of European integration, that took a beating.
During his opening remarks at the summit, EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso virtually spanked his Ukrainian colleague on the latter’s home turf.
“I will be honest with you Mr. President, it quite often seems to me that promises of reform are only partly fulfilled, obligations of reform are only partly carried out, and words aren’t always accompanied by actions,” he said.
The agenda of the summit was supposed to discuss cooperation on climate change, the financial crisis and energy security. But following on the heels of the signing of the Lisbon Treaty, a trouble-filled but ultimately satisfying expression of European unity, Friday’s summit looked more like an explanation of why Ukraine is still on the outside looking in.
European frustration with Ukraine’s slow pace of reforms reached new heights this year, at the same time that the global economic crisis struck. In a way, the circumstances of Ukraine’s spanking are not unlike the situation when a stressed out mother finally gives her bawling kid a well deserved smack in the pants, although the kid had been acting up long before the punishment, and the mother’s frustration was largely due to other causes.
Like spoiled children indeed, Kyiv’s politicians have behaved, trying to play off the West against Russia. No where has this behavior been more obvious than in the area of energy security, where European buyers have been held hostage to bilateral disputes between Russia, as the supplier, and Ukraine and the transit country.
It wasn’t bad enough that Europeans have had their gas taps shut off more than once over the past couple of years; more recently, it appears that Moscow and Kyiv, both cash-strapped, are using European fears of another shut-off to force their Western neighbors to pay for greater security by filling gas storage facilities.
Due to Moscow’s recent success in enlisting European customers’ support for gas pipelines that detour Ukraine, EU officials now apparently feel confident enough to tell Kyiv’s squabbling politicians what they really think.
“The main area of interest for European consumers is predictability, when the transit of gas is at issue. European consumers could lose their patience when energy issues are at stake,” said summit guest Fredrik Reinfeldt, the prime minister of ruling EU country Sweden.
Another reason for European frustration is Ukraine’s continuing inability to straighten out its finances, legislation and investment climate.
And it’s not just because Yushchenko keeps pushing for an EU membership bid that gives people like Barroso the right to rebuke his Ukrainian colleagues.
Ukraine recently received three tranches of a USD 16bn loan from the IMF, although banking officials in Kyiv may not be using the money wisely.
The IMF suspended delivery of the fourth tranche because President Yushchenko approved generous social spending, and his political opponent Tymoshenko refused to raise gas prices. But the fact that the National Bank has used billions in reserves to bail out reckless bankers with no regard for their depositors must have also played a role in the IMF’s decision.
Whatever the reasons for the suspension, European summit guests didn’t pass up the opportunity to chide Ukraine for irresponsibility on this issue as well.
“The program of the International Monetary Fund must be renewed. The European Union is the main donor of the IMF; therefore, it’s very important that this program be restarted,” Reinfeldt, said.
Although Ukrainians are definitely sensitive to the cost of heating their homes and the value of their currency, it is perhaps the chance to travel freely to the West that is most closely associated with European integration.
However, even in this area, their pro-Western president failed to deliver to voters.
Barroso has made it clear that the introduction of biometric passports, the completion of the demarcation of the Ukrainian border and better border control are all prerequisites to visa free travel to Europe for Ukrainians.
“We have repeatedly named these conditions to Ukraine during previous talks and meetings. Only when they are all fulfilled will we be ready to move forward on issues of visa liberalization,” he said.
With this kind of encouragement from Europe, the pro-European president must have felt like a deserted child.
Regarding the visas, Mr. Yushchenko was only able to ramble on about increased tourist flows – although Ukraine still doesn’t have anything near adequate tourist facilities, while most of its population can still be seen as potential economic immigrants.
Regarding the more serious issues, such as Ukraine’s failure to get an association agreement, the president resorted to the more familiar practice of blaming the government: “The government’s inability to fully implement obligations within the framework of cooperation with international financial organizations has negatively affected the negotiation process on the signing of an association agreement,” he said.
Mr Yushchenko even rebuked European journalists, reading them a lecture on political science: “It will be a mistake on your part if you assess the problem of the organization of political stability as a problem of relations between several people,” he said.
Who else could he lecture?
When it was all over, Barroso trotted out the usual statements about Ukraine’s European cultural identity and the hope for future agreements.
But diplomats are increasingly beginning to sound like parents, using words such as ‘report card’ and ‘homework’ in their statements.
It may not be pleasant for Mr. Yushchenko or Ukraine to swallow such condescension, but that’s what happens when a country is divided and overly dependent on its neighbors.
John Marone, a columnist of Eurasian Home website, Kyiv, Ukraine
December 7, 2009
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