U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, in a passionate speech to Ukraine's parliament and other political leaders on Dec. 8, urged Ukraine to seize the opportunity to become a truly democratic nation that removes the blight of corruption.
His words drew several rounds of applause, including a standing ovation, during a 37-minute speech in which Biden talked about how the United States would support Ukraine as long as it stayed on the democratic path.
He said, however, that the nation’s prosecutorial and judicial system needs to be overhauled to deliver justice to Ukrainians who earned their freedom by overthrowing the corrupt regime of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych.
All broadcasts of Biden’s speech in Ukraine carried a Ukrainian translator voiceover, making it hard to get precise quotes. A transcript wasn’t immediately available on the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine or White House websites.
But Biden has repeated the same themes on this two-day visit.
In a Dec. 7 blog about his trip — the fifth to the region as vice president — Biden warned that Ukraine is running out of chances.
“Once again, standing in the face of Russian aggression and widespread corruption, Ukraine has another — and what might be its last — historic opportunity to establish a true, free, economically prosperous democratic republic. One that can’t be bullied, bribed, or bought,” Biden wrote. “So long as the people of Ukraine continue to strive for freedom and democracy, they can count on the unwavering commitment of the United States to stand with them.”
In remarks with President Petro Poroshenko the day before, Biden also highlighted the corruption fight.
“The Ukrainian people cannot once again have their hopes dashed based on the cancer of corruption. The Orange Revolution occurred and hopes were extremely high,” Biden said. “And here we are again because of the sacrifices made two years ago. One more chance. One more chance. And it’s absolutely critical for Ukraine, in order to be stable and prosperous and part of a secure Europe to definitely, thoroughly, completely root out the cancer of corruption. The people need to see that in ways — that the ways of the past are permanently gone. They no longer exist.”
Biden also on Dec. 7 urged Ukraine to adopt a tax code and state budget that meets International Monetary Fund requirements for fiscal prudence (deficits of no more than 3.7 percent of gross domestic product). “We have spoken about the vital importance of Ukraine following through on its IMF commitments,’ he said.
The Dec. 7 statement can be found here.
In the speech to parliament, recalling the sacrifices of the EuroMaidan Revolution in which more than 100 people were killed and many others wounded before President Viktor Yanukovych fled power, Biden said Ukraine’s political leaders have an obligation bring justice.
“It is your responsibility now,” Biden said. “This is an obligation, a responsibility before each and one of you to build a unified and democratic country. Parliament is an organ of a unified people, not local interests, but a place concerned with the overall good. It is in your hands. You can bend the arch of history.”
He noted the disappointment when no reforms followed the 2004 Orange Revolution, which denied Yanukovych the president in favor of Viktor Yushchenko. “Hopes were let down,” he said, noting that oligarchs are not interested in reforms.
In today’s Ukraine, problems remain. Biden said setting up an anti-corruption bureau or anti-corruption prosecutor is not enough.
“You have to reform the whole prosecution and judiciary,” Biden said. “Oligarchs should not be able to influence court and judges… corruption siphons resources from the people and from the economy and you know it.”
Biden said that America would never accept Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and will continue to pressure Russia to live up to the Minsk agreements, including withdrawal of its troops and weapons, and the return of eastern borders to Ukraine’s control.
As a U.S. senator, Biden said that he resented it when speakers appeared to lecture him on what to do.
He said “I hope I didn’t come across that way.”
But he said “the world is watching you” and “this is is your moment. This is your responsiblity.” Failure, he said, would have harmful consequences in building a whole, united and democratic Europe.
