Soros does not like revolutions

Last Tuesday the well-known financier and philanthropist George Soros told journalists about the goals of his brief visit to Ukraine to attend a meeting of the International Crisis Group’s board. Although the board was invited to Kyiv by Ukrainian MP and top businessman Viktor Pinchuk, who is thus far the first and only “victim” of reprivatization, no crisis in Ukraine was on the session’s agenda, Soros noted. Instead, the board members discussed head-spinning situations in other parts of the planet. Soros scheduled just one day for Ukraine. He met with some unnamed Ukrainian government officials and dealt with matters relating to the Ukrainian branch of his International Renaissance Foundation. Soros said he is very impressed with the Foundation’s management and activities in Ukraine.

In the course of his brief inspection of his Foundation in Ukraine, Soros spelled out its new tasks for the immediate future (perhaps until the parliamentary elections in Ukraine): upholding the rule of law and promoting judicial reform, European integration, public broadcasting, freedom of speech and information, and the introduction of university admissions testing.

He singled out judicial reform in the light of the “difficulties and misunderstandings” that have occurred in Ukraine, especially in the area of property rights. Soros characterized Ukraine as a country in transition “from robber capitalism to legitimate capitalism.” He emphasized that in these conditions it is necessary to establish and legitimize property rights without which “there will be no headway” and which can only be done if there is a court system free of corruption. In his opinion, “a certain weakness on the part of the government” in Ukraine is connected precisely with this (corruption in the courts). According to Soros, it will take quite a long time — years, if not a decade — to eradicate this phenomenon. Still, the financier thinks Ukrainian voters must be prepared for judicial reform well before the elections and has drawn up a plan “to mobilize society to cooperate with the authorities” in this direction. He also warned that judicial reform would incur heavy governmental expenses and has promised to help. Although no exact figure was named, the amount can be estimated based on the fact that the Renaissance Foundation’s budget is $5.5 million this year, and Soros has said he will spend much more on judicial reform.

Soros hopes that the upcoming elections in Ukraine will be transparent and “the administrative resource will be brought under control.” He is also convinced that we have “truly free mass media.” Yet he stresses that this positive feature should be reinforced so that the pendulum does not swing in the other direction should the political climate change after the elections.

He does not think that the split in the “orange camp” forced the EU to change its attitude to post-revolutionary Ukraine. Moreover, he is certain that the Europeans essentially improved their attitude after the revolution but the Union’s “internal difficulties” are holding back Ukraine’s integration. As for accession to the WTO, the forecast was not very optimistic either. Soros said he supports Ukraine’s aspirations to join this organization but noted that he is unable to exert pressure on the government of Australia, which is hindering this process (by demanding that Ukraine give the green light to its sugar — Author).

The most interesting question was asked by Soros himself, who would have liked to have heard it from journalists. He said that for some reason everyone thinks that he controls the Ukrainian government. Denying this claim, he said he “was not standing behind the scenes of the Orange Revolution.” He also confessed that he does not like revolutions in general because they occur when people are absolutely dissatisfied with a government’s rule. In his view, revolutions do not make up for a deficit in society. To overcome it, we must redouble our efforts and demonstrate a constructive spirit. Soros admitted that his goal and that of his Foundation in Ukraine is to build open society institutions here. The revolution created certain conditions that must be taken advantage of: society should rally around the government and make an effort to establish rule of law and carry out judicial reform.

INCIDENTALLY

Last Tuesday Garret Evans, president of the International Crisis Group and ex-foreign minister of Australia, met with Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasiuk to discuss international issues pertaining to the implementation of top-priority tasks in Ukraine’s foreign policy and the settlement of “frozen” conflicts in the post-Soviet space. Evans gave a positive assessment of “Ukraine’s dynamic development after the victory of democratic forces and successes in the assertive foreign policy pursued by the new leadership of Ukraine.” Minister Tarasiuk noted the Ukrainian leadership’s readiness to carry out the reforms that will allow Ukraine to meet EU and NATO membership criteria and expressed the hope that the EU will change its conceptual approach to the possibility that Ukraine will become a full-fledged member of this organization.

The International Crisis Group is committed to preventing and solving deadly conflicts in more than 50 countries. Its members analyze situations and send recommendations to influential governmental and non-governmental organizations throughout the world. The group has its headquarters in Brussels and branches in Washington, New York, London, and Moscow. The group has also opened “field offices” in Amman, Belgrade, Bishkek, Dakar, Dushanbe, Islamabad, Jakarta, Kabul, and other large cities.