“France Is Not an Opponent of Ukraine”

In the last while France has been connected to many pessimistic thoughts concerning Ukraine’s European prospects: the “old Europe,” scared by “Polish plumbers,” has turned down the European Constitution. Without broaching these kinds of controversial issues, one can recall, for example, Ukraine’s failure to begin cooperating within the framework of the “Weimar Triangle” (France-Germany-Poland). But after the change of power in Ukraine Paris lost no time in declaring that things would now be completely different. One after another, high-ranking Ukrainian leaders recently visited Paris on what may be described as a fact-finding tour. French Ambassador Philippe de Suremain told The Day that the period of “anemic relations” is now over.

Boosting this dialogue is the main task of Ukraine’s Ambassador to France, Yuriy Serheyev. Our country has given a fitting answer to the French cultural invasion (in the finest sense of the word). Our Paris embassy’s cultural section, which has been functioning for 18 months now, will soon hold several recitals by the Kotorovych ensemble, Days of Kyiv, and Days of Ukraine, including a fashion show featuring Ukrainian models and an exhibition of 500 works by the artist Ivan Marchuk. According to Mr. Serheyev, the French are especially fond of modern art, so the embassy is considering their tastes in planning its cultural events. When Mr. Serheyev was in Kyiv to attend an ambassadors’ meeting, he had a talk with several journalists, including The Day ’s correspondent, about what France values in the sphere of political relations and how business partnerships are developing with one of the European Union’s front runners.

“In what context was Ukraine mentioned when France was debating the European Constitution? The common perception is that in voting against the EU’s draft fundamental law in the referendum, the French voted against further enlargement of the Union, i.e., against Ukraine’s prospective membership.”

“This view, among others, was also debated in the French media. One could agree with it if Le Figaro had not conducted a public opinion poll: 58% of French citizens prefer to see Ukraine integrated with Europe. The French referendum fiasco should be viewed from a broader angle. French politicians have commented on it as a challenge primarily to the French government. The population of France is satisfied neither with social reforms, nor with the economic situation, especially in the agricultural sector. A lot of problems have arisen owing to migration, which have led to a wave of protests: recall the attempt to ban Muslim girls from wearing head scarves in educational institutions. They all took to the streets with the slogan ‘One head scarf, one vote.’ That was a very powerful warning. The French did not oppose Europe because they are founders of the European Union — they just used the referendum as an opportunity to voice their mistrust in the government. And the latter immediately changed.

“Of course, the Europeans will now be saying, ‘Let’s first sort out our internal problems.’ And we must take advantage of this break to push our own reforms.”

“What about the implementation of the agreements that were reached as a result of the unprecedented ‘Ukrainian landing operation’ in France?”

“This year has really seen positive changes in the dynamics of our relations. The very fact that the French Republic was visited by the National Security and Defense Council secretary, the minister of foreign affairs, the prime minister, and the president, clearly points to radical changes.

“First of all, I would like to say that France is not an opponent of Ukraine. This stereotype must be done away with. One should view France as a country that has a different vision compared to, say, Britain, of its own development and European Union requirements. We gravitate toward the Anglo-Saxon model, for it is based on economic priorities, while the French model reflects the political and social aspects of EU development. I often call France ‘a country of lawyers,’ for it follows its own Cartesian logic. For example, they attach paramount importance to certain juridical details that would go totally unnoticed in our country.

“The first problem that I decided to tackle after being appointed ambassador was the widespread claim that France is the only country that is hindering the liberalization of its visa regime with Ukraine. Inasmuch as this is not the exclusive problem of the consular service or the ministry of foreign affairs, the consular section of France’s foreign ministry asked us, ‘Are your border guards prepared to apprehend all criminals and terrorists on the Ukraine-EU border? Are our security services cooperating closely enough to exchange the required information?’ We had to answer in the negative: over the past 12 years none of the chiefs of these Ukrainian agencies had ever visited France. The French also say, ‘Do our customs services maintain a relationship that will forestall a smuggling boom after the visa regime is relaxed?’ No, over the past 12 years not a single Ukrainian customs officer has visited France. We are asked, ‘Can you prevent the inflow of huge amounts of cash and encourage your people to travel to us with bank cards?’

“At the same time, the French were the first in the EU to offer us an agreement on the liberalization of the visa regime, which was ready for signing when French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier visited Kyiv on February 5 this year. Unfortunately, we failed to sign it before accepting the EU Action Plan, which calls for a relaxed visa regime. Guided by his Cartesian logic, during his visit Mr. Barnier asked, ‘Why should we sign the agreement if the Action Plan called for this? Let us do the following: we, Frenchmen, will hand over to Brussels the agreement we have drawn up with you, so that it will lay the groundwork for a Ukraine-EU agreement.’ He did so, and last June France unilaterally began to liberalize the visa regime. This does not apply to people who want to travel on private invitations. It applies to businessmen, journalists, students, artists, and officials. For example, a businessman is granted a three-month visa if he travels to France for the first time and a six-month one if he goes a second time. If he has close contacts in France, his visa will be valid for up to five years.

“The next problem that I began to tackle in France is recognition of our university diplomas, academic degrees, and titles. This year the two sides signed an agreement on the recognition of university degrees and titles. As for university diplomas, France agreed in the fall of 2003 to help us integrate into the European space by raising at the Berlin meeting of education ministers the question of making Ukraine a permanent member of the Sorbonne-Bologna process. This year, too, Ukraine was again accepted — in Norway — as a member of this process that is allowing our universities to be an integral part of the EU educational space.

“Here is another interesting but little-known example. When the Ukrainian minister of defense visited France, he was offered assistance with reforming our so-called ‘internal troops’, which are subordinated to the ministry of internal affairs, along the lines of the French gendarmerie by establishing a regional center in Ukraine for training this kind of formation. We are now expecting an exchange of visits by the ministers of internal affairs, as well as a visit from the head of the gendarmerie.

“These examples do not mean that we will be admitted somewhere as early as tomorrow. Yet, our president’s visit helped reach an accord on drafting a ‘road map’ of our relations. Incidentally, it should be noted that France is the only EU country with which we have signed this kind of document. The latter sets out in clear terms how these relations will promote our European integration. France was the first to offer its governmental advisers, who will be assisting our vice-premiers in charge of administrative reforms and European integration, as well as justice and agriculture advisers. These are small examples, but they are very eloquent.

“There were also some ambitious projects that were negotiated during the prime minister’s visit to Paris. It is planned that when President Chirac visits Ukraine supposedly at the end of October, a business forum will be held to review the way signed contracts are being carried out. France has already seen Odesa oblast’s presentation; next in line are Donetsk and Lviv oblasts and Kyiv. By organizing such business forums, we intend to establish contacts between small and medium businesses. As for big business, I must mention the fact that the state-run MEDEF association organized a visit of 70 heads of large French enterprises to Ukraine last March. The two countries have outlined the strategic directions of their cooperation and formed task forces. The prime minister of Ukraine signed a number of letters of intent. Now we must see to it that these projects are implemented. The task forces have been working even during the summer, so I hope that when President Chirac comes, we will be able tentatively to size up the implementation of the agreements reached in June.”

“What are the prospects for cooperation in the energy sector?”

“We have signed memoranda with several French companies. France is interested in importing our energy because, like all European countries, it is looking for alternative sources. This is no simple matter, and expert-level cooperation is continuing with a number of countries that can be suppliers of energy. I think a more ambitious project is cooperation in the field of nuclear power, in which France is Europe’s leader. This project will also involve other countries that own such technologies. We also plan to hold an energy forum in October.”

“Does the traditional friendliness between France and Russia affect your work?”

“Things are not so simple or so complicated. All we have to do is be consistent. I can assure you that Ukrainian-French relations will not be looked at through the prism of Moscow. It is crystal clear that the EU wants to maintain transparent and predictable relations with Russia, but the context of these relations is far narrower than what we are striving for. We should take into account everyone’s interests, including France’s, but we must also show that by maintaining concrete cooperation we are prepared to develop relations. Do you know what used to surprise France about us? Our provincialism. Instead of doing concrete things, we have been demanding political signals in the past three to four years. Moreover, we used to resort to manipulations. Take the year 2003, when Kuchma and Chirac met in Athens. The Ukrainian media said that France had confirmed its desire to support Ukraine’s associate status. But Chirac never said this. He said that ‘France supports Ukraine’s association in various spheres.’ The translator simply misunderstood the meaning of the verb. In reality, Chirac said quite specifically, ‘We can help you integrate in the field of railways.’ So, since the end of last year we have been working with France to implement a high-velocity train program in Ukraine. France and Italy will help us enter Europe’s railway network. France has also offered to train and upgrade the skills of Ukrainian judges. These are concrete things that we need!”