Invité dans le cadre de l’un des « petits déjeuners » du European Policy Centre, le vice-premier ministre ukrainien Oleg Ribachuk a réaffirmé l’attachement de son pays aux valeurs de l’Union européenne.
The European Policy Centre welcomed Oleg Ribachuk, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, who addressed a Breakfast Policy Briefing on “Ukraine and the EU: How close, how soon?” The Political Director of the European Policy Centre, John Palmer, chaired the meeting. A question and answer session followed. This is not an official record of the proceedings and specific remarks are not necessarily attributable.
Summary
By securing fair elections and choosing a democratic way forward, the Ukrainian people had demonstrated their clear commitment to European values, Mr. Ribachuk, said. Ukraine and the EU stood to reap great economic and political benefits from Ukrainian membership in the Union. To achieve this goal, however, Ukraine would need greater EU assistance on 177 concrete priorities this year, as outlined in the joint Action Plan between the Union and the country. The Deputy Prime Minister pledged to move ahead with the implementation of EU policies on the national level.
Event Report
Opening his remarks, Mr. Ribachuk said he was proud to be in Brussels as a representative of Ukraine’s first democratically elected government. “My country is no longer standing at the crossroads,” he said, having held free and fair elections and chosen to build a new open, democratic and European society.
The Orange Revolution had shown the world that the rule of law and respect for human rights were guiding principles for Ukrainians in choosing the future of their country. At the same time the revolution had paved the way towards a new quality of Ukraine’s partnership with the united Europe.
Ukraine was now ready to move beyond merely advocating common interests to concretely achieving common values and standards on its way toward EU membership. It had already demonstrated its deep commitment toward achieving this goal through the government “Towards Europe” programme, one of the core elements of the Ukraine-EU Action Plan.
“We have elaborated a new national strategy for European integration aim to attain of the criteria for EU membership swiftly,” Mr. Ribachuk said. Joining the Union would also help maximise Ukraine’s potential: “Every step on this road gives new opportunities for millions of Ukrainians.”
Before one could talk about future EU enlargement, the current bloc had to resolve a key internal matter, namely the future of the proposed Constitution, Mr. Ribachuk said. Ukraine would be watching the upcoming referenda in France and the Netherlands closely. The 25-nation EU had to “settle the rules of the game,” and then Ukraine would be fully prepared to play by those rules. It was therefore premature and pointless to discuss any potential competition between Turkey and Ukraine in the race to become EU members.
Top Priorities for Ukraine
Ukraine’s top priorities included the democratisation of the country, securing freedom of speech as well as the independence of the media and the judiciary in the fight against corruption. Administrative reform and enhanced local self-governance were further goals of the current government. These measures would go hand in hand with dynamic economic reforms, greater support of entrepreneurship, increased pace in privatisation and improvement of the overall investment climate. “Implementation of European standards in politics, economy and society is our alpha and omega,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Mr. Ribachuk said that his job was to ensure the coherent implementation of European policies at national level. In addition, each ministry and government authority will have its own deputy minister responsible for integration issues. Ideally, each regional governor should also eventually have a deputy in charge of these issues at regional level.
At the same time, it was imperative to raise public awareness and engage civil society surrounding the pros and cons of full EU membership, ideally with EU support for a public information campaign.
One of the possible ways for the EU to ensure its leadership was through the promotion of its ‘open-door policy.’ A recent survey among voters in the EU’s six largest countries had found 58% in favour of EU membership for Ukraine and in support of the January resolution of the European Parliament. The EU had no choice but to follow this line, Mr. Ribachuk said. At the same time, Ukraine’s new leadership and its citizens were determined to do their homework toward achieving a greater level of integration with the EU.
While it was fully understandable that the European Neighbourhood Policy was elaborated during a difficult transitional time, Ukraine was against making the policy the sole basis for its bilateral relations with the EU. “It is important for Ukraine that all roads of cooperation with the EU should ultimately lead to Brussels,” he said, as based on Article 49 of the EU Treaty.
The EU-Ukraine Action Plan
Preparing for EU membership, Ukraine had outlined an Action Plan – endorsed by the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council on 21 February – including goals such as Ukraine’s membership in the WTO membership, access of Ukrainian goods to the EU market and the establishment of a high-level dialogue on energy and transport. Mr. Ribachuk said he was confident that by the next EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council in June, the country would be able to demonstrate tangible progress in implementing Action Plan priorities.
From an institutional viewpoint, Ukraine had agreed to reform the structure and principles of bilateral EU-Ukraine institutions through the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. He also underscored that Ukraine would assess all pluses and minuses before going ahead with formal application for EU membership, promising to be a responsible, reliable and predictable partner.
John Palmer thanked the Deputy Prime Minister for his open and frank participation in the debate and for an insight into his important yet challenging job as Deputy Prime Minister and for clearly underlining the issues at stake in Ukraine’s path towards EU membership.
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