Focus in Ukraine, March 31 - April
6 2008
The Democratic Initiatives
Foundation is closely following the political events in Ukraine in
order to monitor the pre-election promises of the country’s most
powerful political forces that won seats in parliament in the snap
elections on September 30, 2007. The monitoring is being conducted
within the framework of the “Where are politicians leading
us?”
March 31
U.S. President George W. Bush traveled to Ukraine on a two-day
official state visit. According to the president’s planned
itinerary, he was to hold talks with Ukraine’s President Viktor
Yushchenko on the issue of Ukraine joining the Membership Action
Plan (MAP) at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania. Bush was also
scheduled to meet with the leader of Ukraine’s main opposition
party Viktor Yanukovych.
April 1
U.S. President George W. Bush announced at a joint press conference
with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko that the U.S. supports
Ukraine and Georgia joining the NATO Membership Action
Plan. Bush emphasized that he and his team has worked with
all NATO member countries and convinced them that the membership of
Ukraine and Georgia in NATO is first and foremost convenient for
the members of the alliance.
In Bush’ opinion, Russia cannot influence the decisions of NATO
member countries to allow these two countries to join MAP. The U.S.
president further noted that the issue of deployment of the
anti-missile defense system in Central Europe cannot be a topic of
discussion with Russia in the context of Ukraine and Georgia
joining MAP.
President Viktor Yushchenko announced at a joint press
conference with U.S. President George W. Bush that Ukraine
will get a positive signal in Bucharest on joining MAP.
Yushchenko believes there is no alternative to such collective
safety and that even if the decision is negative Ukraine will
continue to pursue this objective.
The Ukrainian president also informed that the percentage of
proponents of NATO membership is increasing with every year (from
17% a few years back to 40% today).
U.S. President George W. Bush held talks with Premier Yulia
Tymoshenko on cooperation between Ukraine and the U.S. with a focus
on the gas issue. In particular, Tymoshenko told about the
country’s plans of signing contracts with countries of Central
Asia. The two sides also discussed the future possibilities of
European integration and plans of creating a free trade zone
between Ukraine and the U.S. This meeting was not planned in
advance. The American president personally insisted on having a
meeting with Tymoshenko.
VR Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk closed the session of the
parliament. The parliamentarians failed to appoint
deputies of the speaker. They are scheduled to reconvene on April
8, by which date they must put forth candidates for deputies to the
speaker of parliament and revise bills concerning the WTO.
France does not support Ukraine and Georgia joining the
NATO Membership Action Plan. The Reuters news agency
informed that France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Francois Fillon
stated this in an interview with France Inter radio. Fillon said
that France does not want Ukraine or Georgia to join MAP seeing as
Russia is against this. The French premier feels that ignoring
Russia’s position could tip the balance of powers in Europe.
Viktor Yanukovych met with George Bush to discuss the issue
of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. The leader of the
Party of Regions stressed that his political force support
Ukraine’s Euro-integration. At the same time, Yanukovych warned
that Ukraine there is no common opinion on this issue and that the
results of public opinion polls show that the majority of its
citizens are opposed to Ukraine’s membership in NATO. The leader of
the country’s opposition party is convinced that Ukraine can only
join NATO after a nationwide referendum on this issue is held.
In its aspirations to join NATO, Ukraine is breeching the
Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with
Russia. First Deputy Chair of the Russian State Duma
Committee on CIS Affairs and Foreign Relations Konstantin Zatulin
came forth with this statement. In his opinion, Ukraine’s
aspirations to join NATO are a direct violation of the Treaty and
do not conform to the spirit or words of this document. He reminded
that the term of effect of this agreement expires on April 1, 2009
and can be automatically renewed for 10 years. However, he believes
that the state of Ukrainian-Russian relations in recent years has
become seriously complicated, which casts doubt on the possible
extension of this document.
April 2
Today the NATO Summit got under way in Bucharest. The alliance
plans to accept three new members – Albania, Croatia and
Macedonia. Ukraine and Georgia hope to join the Membership
Action Plan. U.S. President George W. Bush confirmed at an early
morning press conference that the U.S. supports the membership of
Ukraine and Georgia in NATO. Just as before, France and Germany are
against these countries joining the alliance.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated on the day before
the NATO Summit in Bucharest that hurried decisions concerning
Ukraine and Georgia could be detrimental to all participants of
talks on this issue.
Merkel made it clear that NATO’s
doors to Ukraine remain open. However, Ukraine must first come to
an internal political consensus. In other words, the majority of
the population must express its approval of the country joining
NATO.
Russia did not recognize the Great Famine (Holodomor) in
Ukraine as genocide. Deputies of the Russian State Duma
called for not speculating on the topic of the famine in the 1930s
and show respect for the memory of the 7 million victims regardless
of nationality. As a reminder, Ukraine is calling out to the
international community to recognize the Famine of 1932-33 as
genocide against the Ukrainian nation. The governments of more than
10 countries have already officially recognized the famine as
genocide against the Ukrainian nation. According to different
estimates, between 7 and 10 million Ukrainians died in the famine
of 1932-33.
April 3
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer informed at a press
conference that the alliance postponed the official approval of its
decision on accepting Ukraine and Georgia as members of the MAP
until December 2008.
He underscored that the members of NATO agreed that Ukraine and
Georgia will become members of the alliance. At the same time, the
heads of state of NATO member countries approved the decision on
the start of intensive political consultations with Ukraine and
Georgia.
President Viktor Yushchenko assessed the results of the
summit in Bucharest as “a victory by default”. The
president made a statement to the press in which he pointed out
that 26 countries gave a positive assessment of Ukraine’s statement
about joining MAP and other states expressed their readiness to
accept Ukraine into the alliance circumventing the MAP stage.
April 4
The resolution of the NATO Summit is the start of the process that
will lead to the membership of Ukraine and Georgia in the future.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is convinced of
this. Following the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO
commission, Scheffer assured that Ukraine will sooner or later be
accepted into NATO and all members of the alliance agreed.
For the first time Ukraine received a signal that it will
become a member of NATO. Borys Tarasiuk, Chair of the
National Movement of Ukraine and the Parliamentary Committee on
Issues of European Integration, made such an announcement in
Bucharest during the round table Ukraine’s Place in NATO organized
by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation. In Tarasiuk’s opinion,
today MAP for Ukraine is a roadmap the government must orient
itself around in preparation for joining NATO.
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