Yevhen Marchuk’s bloc proposes “adult” policy

The first convention of the newly established electoral bloc “Yevhen Marchuk — Yednist [Unity]” was held in keeping with all the classical rules of party meetings, against the background of a “show business-style” policy being waged by the party’s forces. The speeches by the leaders of the three parties that united to take part in the 2006 elections contained no indiscriminate criticism of “everyone and everything” or empty reflections on 50 percent of the seats in the next parliament. There was only the “cold shower of analysis,” in the words of Marchuk, who was elected leader of the bloc. There was also a party action program that may now be regarded as a rare piece of exotica in terms of party speeches. The records of a number of conventions of political forces compel one to write about PR moves, spin doctor techniques, entourage, and guess at their chances (prompted by the intrigue surrounding the rosters and the names on them; songs instead of programs, and singers in lieu of politicians). There is absolutely no need to quote from their speeches, which are nicely worded but have little actual content (that something is not right in Ukraine is common knowledge). Yet the records of this particular party convention are such that one is tempted to quote them all. What with the deafening pre-election noise, the question is whether the electorate will hear the constructive ideas and proposals that were voiced by the leaders.

The three speeches of the party leaders comprise three components of Ukraine’s development strategy as proposed by the bloc. The first one, construction of a civil society through the development of local self-government and decentralization of central power, was presented by Volodymyr Yalovy, leader of the Yednist Party. He declared that the transfer of the state administrations’ main functions and powers to city and district executive committees, as championed by his bloc, will make the local authorities not only more transparent but, more importantly, more responsible. Yalovy also expressed the bloc’s stand in regard to the elections of the mayor of Kyiv by supporting the current one (former leader of the Yednist Party), Oleksandr Omelchenko as a non-party candidate. “Everyone knows that Oleksandr Omelchenko, despite all his shortcomings as a person and leader, is so superior to and more experienced than all the other named candidates, since he has a better understanding of the problems of this city with a population of three million, that no comparisons can be made,” he said, explaining this choice. The social bloc (once again, logically) was left to Valentyna Hoshovska, leader of the Party “Solidarity of Ukrainian Women.” Hoshovska was the first woman in Ukraine’s history to hold the post of First Deputy Minister of Defense. She correctly pointed out that “when it comes to social problems, those pertaining to the family and children, only a female politician can demonstrate the right way of thinking and a warrior’s conduct...” She further emphasized that “one of the main political tasks of this bloc is to make every effort to stop the further polarization of the population and the spread of poverty, which affects all strata, regardless of age, education, or place of residence.” She went on to say that Ukraine, throughout the 16 years of its independence, kept forfeiting its political, economic, and social chances of becoming a state commensurate with its potential. This country is still losing these chances. Close to a million homeless children and teenagers, five to seven million people earning a living abroad, 80 percent of whom are women — all this, according to the Ukraine Women’s Solidarity leader, means lost opportunities to have a normal country: “We must turn this society away from a philosophy of indifference and cavalry attacks on these problems to a systematic and economically substantiated program. The strategy of this program is aimed not at reviving ineffective structures dating from the 1990s, but at providing conditions in which every working person, through the mechanisms of participation in the running of an enterprise, can have a chance to influence the division of the results of its economic activity.” In addition, Hoshovska believes that by involving women in politics, morality and justice can be restored to the administrative system.

Yevhen Marchuk, leader of the Svoboda [Liberty] Party and bloc leader since last Saturday, offered an expert analysis of the economic situation in Ukraine and its international relations, including the topical issue of our gas conflict with Russia. Marchuk pointed out that in his time he had held some 20 talks with his Russian partners on the most topical issues. Thus, he can say with every confidence that Russia knows how to defend its interests. He added that “the signals of coming strains in Ukrainian-Russian relations started being received this past summer, when a number of political forces currently in power — in the foreign ministry and cabinet — permitted themselves to address rather coarse remarks to Russia.” At the same time, “Ukraine turned out to be unprepared for such an abrupt shift and talks on a number of problems with Russia that proved extremely difficult.” Marchuk said that the statement from the Presidential Secretariat to the effect that Ukraine could raise the matter of revising the lease fees for the Russian Black Sea fleet was professionally incompetent, since the deployment of the Russian fleet in Sevastopol is in keeping with a bilateral agreement. However, he added that the Russian fleet question reveals a number of unresolved problems (e.g., radio frequency, compensations for losses sustained by Ukraine for maintaining Russian early warning stations, etc.) that could be used to ward off Russia’s attack in terms of gas prices. “But these questions were not prepared on time,” Marchuk noted, “and now it is too late, for this would look like a reflection on Russia’s actions.” In general, the bloc leader believes that all the steps taken by Ukraine in this direction were mostly responses to certain initiatives coming from Russia: “...we were always late,” Marchuk said, adding that all this is proof that Ukrainian-Russian relations, regarded as major components of Ukraine’s foreign policy, lack a developed strategy. The same is true of Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic course that now dominates the practical acts of this country’s political leadership (the bloc leader believes that these acts must certainly be supported). It should be noted, however, that this is sure to invoke a backlash from Russia. Therefore, Marchuk says, “If the time ever comes when the Ukrainian people, rather than the state leadership, decide to join the powerful collective security alliance, we must speak and underline the fact that it will be the Ukrainian people who will join this bloc, not the president or prime minister of Ukraine.” He also stressed the need to be aware that neither the EU nor NATO will ever admit a country that has serious problems with its neighbors: “Until all the issues pertaining to Russia are settled, all talk of NATO membership will remain an irritating factor for our neighbors.” Considering that all this comes from a politician, who, as a former Ukrainian prime minister, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, and finally defense minister, has done so much to speed up Ukraine’s integration into European and NATO structures, his conclusions make sense.

The convention later adopted the bloc’s roster listing the names of 119 candidates (50 each from the Svoboda and Yednist parties, and 20 from the Solidarity of Ukrainian Women Party). The top five include Yevhen Marchuk, Volodymyr Yalovy, Valentyna Hoshovska, Liudmyla Bezpalko (director of the Borshchahivka Chemical-Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.), and Volodymyr Holovach, Kyiv Council’s Yednist faction leader. Marchuk said that there are no “brothers, sisters, or other relatives” on the list, which also does not boast the names of pop, sports, or television stars or current Ukrainian MPs, big businessmen, or bankers. This means that the bloc’s leaders are sincere when they discuss the rejuvenation of the political elites, and that if they enter parliament, they will actually have a chance to alter the “clannish- oligarchic climate that has persisted in Ukraine for more than ten years.