European Parliament puts final ball in Ukraine’s court
The European Parliament has recommended that the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European External Action Service finalize the association agreement with Ukraine by the end of the year and sign the agreement early next year.
Members of the European Parliament condition the initialing of the agreement on Ukraine guaranteeing implementation of reforms to protect human rights, secure democratic values and preserve the rule of law.
Europe has been very positive about the association agreement with Ukraine and the liberalization of the visa regime between Ukraine and the European Union. It seems as if Europe is shifting the responsibility for the Ukraine-EU Summit, scheduled for Dec. 19, onto the government of Ukraine.
Surprisingly, the European Parliament has publicly recognized that external forces have been attempting to influence Ukrainian leaders towards jeopardizing relations with Europe.
European MPs have stated for the first time that Russia has been putting pressure on Ukraine to prevent it from entering the free trade area with the EU in order to secure the customs union with Ukraine, Belorussia and Kazakhstan.
Konstantin Eliseev, a permanent representative of Ukraine to the EU, mentioned that the recommendations of the European Parliament enable steadfast political association and economic integration between Ukraine and the European Union. Ukrainian politicians assure that they are dedicated to achieving maximum results at the summit regardless of Russia’s integration projects.
People First Comment: The people of Ukraine want to be part of Europe. The business community of Ukraine recognizes that as part of Europe their chances of a fair and level playing field are much stronger. The oligarchs are openly saying that the future of Ukraine lies in Europe. Even the people of Russia are saying that they want fundamental change, democracy, transparency and freedom. So just who is supporting the Kremlin’s idea of a closer union?
The only real beneficiaries of a closer union with Russia will be the current political elite as this union will enable them to preserve their current ways and current revenue streams. The EU will demand change but Russia under its current leadership would allow the status quo to prevail… that is unless the people of Russia decide otherwise. In reality the old guard in both Russia and Ukraine are now under attack. The people of Russia have clearly expressed their displeasure at having their Duma election managed for them and it is very likely that the people of Ukraine will do the same come next October. Soon there will be nowhere for the Old Guard to hide.
The EU is being very smart in pushing for the free trade agreement as this will seal the fate of the customs union, further weakening the Russian grip on the region. This combined with public dissent may well concentrate the minds of the Russian and Ukrainian leaderships on how to enable the future as opposed to preserving the past.
7th anniversary of the Orange Revolution: government resistance vs. apathy
Nov. 22 was the date of the start of Orange Revolution and remains an official national holiday in Ukraine. The government has done everything in their power to prevent the remaining supporters from celebrating the anniversary of the Orange events.
A court ruling banned any mass action on Independence Square on Nov. 22 while Kyiv administration ordered that the square be fenced off, citing a Christmas tree as the official explanation.
At the same time Kalashnikov, a member of the Party of Regions, somehow was allowed to hold his own demonstration on Independence Square.
There were more militia officers than ordinary people on the streets of Kyiv on Freedom Day. By the end of the day members of the public were even threatened with force. Stetskiv from Our Ukraine–People’s Self-Defense Bloc commented on these actions reflecting the government’s intention to wipe the Orange Revolution from the collective memory.
Nobody could imagine that seven years after the Orange Revolution, Tymoshenko and ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko would be in prison, ex-President Viktor Yushchenko would lose all support and Viktor Yanukovych would be president.
History keeps calling upon Ukrainians to defend their civil rights, dignity and freedoms. Yushchenko has noticed that Ukraine today faces similar issues to those that brought about the Maidan demonstrations back in 2004. In the meantime, the key heroes of the Orange Revolution, which is of course the people of Ukraine, have given up on all current politicians and might soon to choose their own political leaders.
People First Comment: One could hardly expect the present administration to embrace the National Fraud Day as it was they who openly committed the fraud. Similarly it would be highly unlikely for Nasha Ukraina and the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko to want to celebrate National Betrayal Day, as it was they who betrayed the nation.
The Orange Revolution will become a national holiday in the future as it will come to represent the day when the good people of Ukraine finally understood that there is no such thing as an honest politician within the current system and that the whole system has to change.
Ukraine does not need a presidential system as the temptation of such a powerful office it too much for any person to resist… Ukraine does not need political parties made up of secret lists that guarantee places for the ‘boys’… Ukraine does need its politicians to be able to live above the law as experience shows that it only encourages corruption and abuse.
Ukraine needs political parties made up of competent grass root activists who put the state and their constituents above their personal interests. Ukraine needs a judicial system free from corruption that administers the law in a fair and just manner. Ukraine needs transparent government where everything is publicly accountable. It will not be long before this realisation becomes the maxim of a movement to build a new Ukraine based on the principles of equality, freedom and justice and only then will all Ukrainians celebrate November 22nd as a national and public holiday
European ministers practice ‘football’ diplomacy
It is not the first time that the European Union has resorted to football diplomacy in its relations with Ukraine. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt accepted an invitation from the President of the football club Shakhtar Donetsk, and world’s richest Ukrainian, according to Forbes magazine, to attend the Champions League match between Shakhtar and Porto in Donetsk where they held diplomatic negotiations.
At the same time there were no official meetings with any other senior Ukrainian politicians. The ministers from Poland and Sweden are the founders of the Eastern Partnership program designed to further cooperation between the EU and the post-Soviet countries including Ukraine. With Tymoshenko arrested and repeatedly charged the main topic on foreign diplomats’ lips is the politicization of the Ukrainian judicial system.
Ukrainian opposition members believe that the conversation with the famous Ukrainian businessman was not only about football but also about the future prospects of Ukraine in the European region and the destiny of ex-prime-minister Tymoshenko.
After the visit, Akhmetov openly thanked them for accepting his invitation to the football match and called them "true friends of Ukraine.”
The Swedish foreign minister wrote on his twitter after coming back from Ukraine that he will continue negotiating with Ukraine and expressed his belief that industrialists in eastern Ukraine are interested in working toward an integrated European market. Experts suggest that the EU is attempting to use unofficial channels and close associates of the Ukrainian President to make Yanukovych realize the expediency of consensus with the EU on all the issues and defuse confrontations that might push Ukraine closer into cooperation with Russia.
People First Comment: When are the wealthy of this nation going to understand that the gravy train has come to a halt and if and when the nation fails, they will be the first to fall? Whilst many will have salted money into banks all over the planet, it will not take long for the international financial community to find and freeze it. It took less than 24 hours to seize Colonel Moammar Gadhafi’s $76 billion, so anybody who believes their assets are safely squirreled away is living in delusion.
It is more than likely that this government will be the last of the current robber barons as they have made too many enemies and have too few friends. They have squandered just about every relationship they had.
Russia will be supportive but only if Ukraine gives up the family silver; the IMF will be supportive but only if the government introduces measures that will guarantee that they will not get re-elected for decades. The international financiers will be supportive but only at interest rates that would make even Greek and Italian eyes water and as for the US and the EU all they would want is to see Tymoshenko released, independent courts and a fair and just voting system. As for their friends, Chavez, Castro, Ahmedinejad and Lukashenko… they are all in an even worse position.
The visit of the Polish and Swedish foreign ministers to Donetsk is not a snub to the government; it is a clear indication that Europe sees no future in discussions with this government and are now planning for the post-Azarov and possibly the post Yanukovych eras.
Chornobyl veterans lead major protests
Since September, Ukraine has witnessed several major protests by individuals who were involved in the clean-up operation after the explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
The protests are against the government’s intention to radically reduce payouts and subsidies awarded to pensioners, including the Chernobyl clean-up teams. The largest demonstrations have been carried out in Donetsk, Kharkiv and most recently in Kyiv, where participants gathered outside the buildings of government, parliament and the Presidential Administration. In Donetsk, Chornobyl veterans have been especially proactive. So much so that their tent camp was even forcibly scattered by an armed militia group. This clash resulted in the death of an activist from BYuT who was happened to be the head of the organization of veterans and children of war. This tragic accident has turned the protests from peaceful into forceful. Protesters have recently embarked on hunger strikes but the number of scuffles and other forceful actions initiated by the militia is still rising.
Those in power could not simply ignore the protests of veterans and rescue workers who had worked at the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that "populists and provocateurs speculate on the Chornobyl protests.” At the same time, Azarov mentioned that the state is not able to repay debts or overturn court decisions on the payment of benefits and pensions to subsidized households.
Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Sergiy Tigipko in turn announced the government’s decision to increase subsidies to Chornobyl veterans directly by 30-40 percent.
Experts on Ukraine say that it has become virtually impossible to demand the repayment of debts through court due to the fact that Ukraine has fallen into a debt trap.
The government tries to justify everything they do in conjunction with prohibitions against public protest demonstrations.
The Kyiv administrative court of appeal has recently issued a blanket prohibition on protests. Further growth of confrontation between the government and Chernobyl veterans could well result in an escalation of social conflict in Ukraine, as starting from this December there will be other protest groups joining those already amassed, for example, officers and veterans of the security services.
People First Comment: This month city communal charges to companies in Kyiv went up almost 100 percent without warning and soon the same thing is likely to happen to private housing. Food prices in Kyiv are now higher than in London which is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but nobody can seem to explain why. During the winter the government will be forced to increase the cost of utility gas by up to 50 percent, yet at the same time the government seeks to reduce the legitimate pensions of the brave and now elderly people who risked their lives to clear up the nuclear mess… Is it any wonder therefore that the elderly have been shaken out of their perennial slumber to protest outside parliament?
This government has a real problem.
They are rapidly running out of money and it would seem that the only way they can fill the gap between what has been stolen and what they need to stop the nation from imploding is to squeeze every last drop out of every company… so long as it is not owned by a Deputy or their family and out of every last person… so long as they are not a Deputy… Unfortunately for this government, so much has been squeezed out by previous governments that there is simply nothing left. Seeking to take bread out of the mouths of pensioners is totally reprehensible and simply underlines that this government will stop at nothing to preserve a system that is rotten to the core.
The answer is really quite simple. Charge a one-off luxury tax on all overly large houses, expensive cars, helicopters, private aircraft, mad-sized power boats and luxury goods. Impose double rates of value-added taxes on all luxury items such as top end cars, yachts, fur coats, diamonds, bling watches and all the other trappings of bad taste. In other words, hit those who can most afford it the hardest, instead of squeezing those who are least able to pay. The government has a choice as to which is the lesser evil: 450 upset deputies or 45 million angry people.
Viktor Tkachuk is chief executive officer of the People First Foundation, which seeks to strengthen Ukrainian democracy. The organization’s website is: www.peoplefirst.org.ua and the e-mail address is: [email protected]
