A pan-European figure

From a historical perspective Ukraine is a European country, and its future is in the European Union. This opinion is shared by the head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament and of the Party of Flemish Liberals and Democrats, the former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Last week, invited by the Arsenii Yatseniuk Foundation Open Ukraine, the Belgian politician took part in a discussion on the topic “The EU: Status Quo and Ambitions for Future” in the foundation’s Diplomatic Club.

Verhofstadt has been professionally involved in politics since 1972. He headed three different Belgian governments in the period from July 1999 to 2008. In July 2009 he was unanimously elected as head of ALDE.

The ex-premier has his own vision of the development of the European Union, in particular, he believes it should be more federal. He published a book on this topic in 2006 entitled The United States of Europe. The Belgian politician constantly thinks of what the future of Europe should look like and how one should solve the problems emerging as a result of the current system’s imperfections. He also wrote about this in his works The New Age of Empires (2008) and The Way out of the Crisis: How Europe Can Save the World (2009).

During the presentation before the Ukrainian diplomats and journalists he pointed out that many problems the European Union has encountered lately can be solved by means of creating, in addition to the monetary union, an economic one — an economic administration that would implement reasonable economic policy on a European level. The Belgian politician highlighted the fact that the EU does not have a real trans-European network of roads and trans-European energy infrastructure, what would truly enable quasi-free transportation of goods and people. The EU, he believes, should also establish single employment and social security standards. “It is necessary to modernize 17 economies of the European area in one direction,” points out Verhofstadt. He adds that at present one should not lower the conditions for entering the European area, but on the contrary, raise them. In his opinion, the reasons for the current crisis lie in the misbalance between the global market and national governments.

The Belgian politician is adamant about the fact that the EU must have a single position on various issues, so as to prevent self-important countries from conducting their own policies. On the other hand, he highlighted the growing role of the European Parliament after the Treaty of Lisbon came into effect. Pointing out that these elections were held on a national level up to now, Verhofstadt affirmed that one should go further and hold real transnational European elections, in which parties would select their own lists of candidates in various countries.

The Belgian politician supports EU enlargement as enhancing stability. “It’s better to have the Balkan countries inside the EU than to keep EU soldiers in these countries,” he asserts. Analyzing Ukraine’s prospects of joining the EU, he pointed out that for this, first of all, it is necessary to quickly fulfill the tasks belonging to the so-called institutional triangle — strengthening and deepening democracy, economic reforms, and the realization of the Action Plan on the visa-free regime. Verhofstadt also said that Ukraine should better prepare for the discussions on the EU budget for 2012-2020.

The ALDE leader does not exclude establishing a post-national area on the territory of present Europe in the future. He underscored the fact that in the past centuries countries were multicultural, multinational and multilingual, and only in the 19th century, due to an outburst of nationalism, did they become monoethnic, monocultural and monolingual. In some way, this destroyed the unique European blend of cultures and architectures.

The Belgian politician mentioned Chernivtsi as an example — it was created by the European environment and was a rich source for scientific and cultural development, though at some point all this disappeared. “My new book will be about the idea that if we want to create the EU, we must also create a common European identity, common European heritage. We will have to come back to the multinational, multilingual, and multiethnic society that existed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We must be aware of the fact that we will not be able to create the EU based on monoethnicity, monoculturalism, and monolingualism. The mixture of peoples, talents, languages and cultures, the source of a great civilization, is specific to the EU,” he said.

At the same time, Verhofstadt does not deny the fact that Ukraine still needs to do a lot of work on strenghtening its state. Only then will it be able to join the EU.

COMMENTARIES

Volodymyr VASYLENKO, Ukrainian ambassador:

“Guy Verhofstadt has broad views on current events, and especially on the future. It is difficult to say which of his predictions will come true, since this futuristic approach, I would say, is not becoming for a serious public politician. Speaking about the present day, it seems to me, his evaluations are more or less realistic, so his wish to see Europe united, certainly, is worth attention and support.

“The part of the discussion where the ex-premier said that there should be close cooperation between the EU and NATO, indicates that the transatlantic alliance is not beyond hope, as some say. This is a stable union which carries out its activities successfully.”

Andrii KURKOV, writer:

“This is a rare case when a politician very distinctly and clearly explains his views. At this, these ideas are not simple. But they are understandable to the extent the personality behind these ideas is understandable. If one promotes these ideas with his drive and energy, I think he can achieve many things.

“The point is not in the realization of his ideas, but in his feeding this discussion in the EU, and this will influence Europe’s approaching to his ideas. Moreover, he represents the third political force in the European Parliament.”

Volodymyr FESENKO, head of the Center for Applied Political Studies Penta:

“I suppose that it is important for Ukraine to know the position of the European federalists. So far this is not the idea which dominates or determines the main directions of development in the Old World. But at the same time it has a considerable impact. The Lisbon process has been mentioned. This is precisely an expression of the influence of federalists, albeit limited in scope, but nevertheless producing an impact. Probably, in some time, the current economic processes will become an impetus, but the discussion on how the EU will develop — towards a federation, or rather maintaining a balance between national sovereignty and super-national Europe — will continue, and at this, maybe it will also acquire ideological coloring.

“Our Belgian guest is one of the vivid new ideological figures in Europe, one can say, a Pan-European figure, one who will have an impact on Europe’s development.”