Ukrainian Experts Discuss European Integration

With a new president, Ukrainians can say they are living in an era of changes – changes in government and a series of reforms.

However, Ukraine’s pro-European outlook remains unchanged.

President Viktor Yanukovych continues to reiterate that becoming a member of the EU is a strategic goal for his government.

And a plan to get rid of the visa requirements for the country's citizens brings Ukraine closer to this cherished dream.

But experts say the country’s latest developments are raising alarms.

[Oleh Rybachuk, Leader of NGO "New Citizen"]:
"Now there are serious obstacles in continuing this approach and there’re real threats that if Ukraine carries on its policy, it has no chance to formalize the prospects for the EU – not this year, not in the next few years."

Ukraine's Prosecutor General opened a criminal case against the ex-Minister of Economy, Bohdan Danylyshyn. He was accused of causing the state losses of several million UAH. Later, the Czech Republic granted Danylyshyn asylum.

According to experts, providing political asylum to Danylyshyn in the Czech Republic means that Europe believes there is no fair judicial system in Ukraine.

The U.S. and Germany have already affirmed that Kyiv is using  "selective justice" to intimidate the opposition.

The same opinion was expressed by the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, Stefan Fule, when recently arriving in Ukraine.

[Oleh Rybachuk, Leader of NGO "New Citizen"]:
"Ukrainian authorities believe that when they’re solving some economic questions, they can ignore values such as freedom and rule of law. The authorities have this mentality and think that the EU will support such a policy. It’s the first time the authorities are faced with the fact that for the EU, rather than some formal laws or formal steps that have been adopted in Ukraine – namely the observance of these things – it is more important that the country must first be democratic and should have a rule of law; only then can one speak of further rapprochement."

Yevhen Bystritsky is the executive director of the International Renaissance Foundation.
 
[Yevhen Bystritsky, Exec. Director, International Renaissance Foundation]:
"Ukraine's relations with the European Union, is not the relationship between president or prime minister or his deputy with the European functionaries. This is a communication of civil societies."
 
Bystritsky believes in building a civil society in Ukraine and says the current government should pay more attention to the work of NGOs.

[Yevhen Bystritsky, Exec. Director, International Renaissance Foundation]:
"The government has to provide free facilities to public organizations, establish a dialogue with them, be open and talk about what the government wants to do in advance, and not provide a reform first and then say, ‘let's discuss this.’"

But contrary to pessimistic forecasts, according to some experts, Europe will limit itself to only warning Ukraine and will not apply any sanctions.

[Gennady Druzenko, Parliamentary Cmte. for European Integration]:
"Everything is seen in context. Ukraine in the context of Belarus and Russia is still a fairly democratic country and the EU will rather conduct a balanced policy of trying to keep this relatively democratic island, rather than using a stick and drive Ukraine into the Russian-Belarusian context.”

Kyiv hopes to sign the EU agreement on a plan of action to abolish visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens and on the free trade zone this year.

But how realistic such plans are largely depends on whether Ukraine successfully moves forwards with issues of democracy.
 
NTD News, Kyiv, Ukraine.