Ukraine's President Yanukovich in the European Parliament
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Today, in the European Parliament, we got to officially meet the newly elected Ukrainian President Yanukovich for the first time.
After the usual niceties, Jerzy Buzek emphasised the need to improve co-operation between Ukraine and the EU. Well, Mr Buzek, the EU had its chance, and blew it, which is why both the serious contenders in the Ukrainian presidential elections openly leaned towards the east. High on Buzek's list of things to cooperate over was, of course, energy issues. We are of course talking about gas supplies of Russian origin, and Buzek should remember the words of Vladimir Putin: "The European Commission had better forget about its illusions. As far as gas is concerned, they will have to deal with the Russian state" (Novaya Gazeta, 2003). There have been many concerns raised about the allegiance of the new Ukrainian regime - it is in the field of fuel supplies that we will learn the truth, and probably fairly soon.
Yanukovich talked of integration: he acknowledged the need for political and economic reforms in order to facilitate this, stating that the rate of integration will be dictated by the speed of reform. He then moved onto one of President Medvedev's favourite topics of the moment, visa free travel. In fact, it was a subject he returned to at least once more during the course of his talk.
The president took the opportunity to attack his pro-western predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, the hero of the Orange revolution, arguing that the previous administration "did nothing in 5 years to improve people's lives". This, he suggested, was the real reason for lack of integration to date.
To be fair, the Yushchenko administration was not a great success, although incessant in-fighting amongst the political elite might be the main reason for this.
EU Reporter was delighted to have a private chat with H. E. Andri Veselovsky, Ukrainian Ambassador to the EU. He was quite clear about the need to address the inertia that afflicted the Ukraine after the 2004 elections, and appeared confident about his new president's abilities. A charming and popular man, his continued residency in Brussels will be a reassurance to those who raise questions about future EU-Ukrainian relations in the context of the new presidency.
