The crucial bills were meant to boost the protection of minorities from discrimination and strengthening anti-corruption legislation – key components for fulfilling the EU’s action plan as part of the broader landmark Association Agreement that Ukraine is pursuing.
While pro-government lawmakers persist in voicing their commitment to EU rapprochement, their voting patterns reveals a diametrically different value system. What matters is short term gain, funneling public money, or ensuring favorable reforms – not policymaking that has the nation’s future at heart.
Many in the Party of Regions are wealthy individuals who have no trouble obtaining visas to EU countries, making them just as mobile as their capital. They seek healthcare abroad because the system at home is unreliable and untrustworthy, and send their offspring to European boarding schools and universities for similar reasons.
Tragically, yet undeservedly, the public is held hostage to this group of lawmakers who’ve succeeded in turning Ukraine into a huge prison by erecting a new Iron Curtain at the nation’s western borders. The average citizen faces huge obstacles in opening foreign bank accounts and buying foreign assets. Ukraine’s healthcare system is in shambles and its education system is riddled with corruption. And because of the nation’s leadership, regular citizens face burdensome visa requirements when applying to travel to many EU countries.
At every civic society meeting experts and academics emphasize how important student programs and other forms of individual exchange are for the nation’s European future. But it can do little good if traveling to Europe remains restricted to the wealthy and powerful.
The EU’s roadmap for closer cooperation has instructions as simple as a children’s game handbook. It’s inexcusable for parliament to not want to follow it. Moldova is already at the second stage of the process, while Ukraine has yet to finish the first.
More importantly, the public wants it, especially the younger generation that is the country’s future, polls show. But parliament must press the right vote buttons for this to happen. If not, no amount of fancy Italian suits, German cars and Swiss watches will turn them into Europeans.
