Ukraine Decides to Put SES on Hold Until September 10
On September 3 President Kuchma finished his two-day working visit to Moscow. On Tuesday he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The principal issue under discussion, according to information from Moscow, was preparing for the CIS summit in Yalta scheduled for September 18-19. Undoubtedly, the Ukrainian attitude toward a treaty on the Single Economic Space of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan arouses great interest in Russia.
“There is every reason to speak about the need for signing the document,” the Ukrainian head of the state said at his meeting with Pres. Putin in Novo-Ogariovo. In his turn, Russia’s chief executive stressed that the document on creating the SES satisfies the interests of all sides and will be signed. He also did not rule out the possibility that his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart might take place even before Yalta summit. He also assured Pres. Kuchma that Russia would be able to export more grain to Ukraine. As it was announced earlier, Russia will import 166,000 tons third class bread grain at $110 per ton from August to October.
Meanwhile, the results of last Wednesday’s meeting of the Ukrainian government where the documents on the SES were discussed could become an unpleasant surprise for Moscow. The government decided to resume discussion on September 10. “The way the document exists at present, we believe it is still raw. It has to undergo a certain procedure,” Minister of the Economy and European Integration Valery Horoshkovsky said. In his words, the drafts will be sent for analysis to Ukraine’s ministries and departments. He mentioned that during the cabinet’s sitting there were many critical remarks, in part, “on contradictions with the Constitution and Ukrainian laws.” Among the most acute moments touched upon during the discussion of the draft SES concept he named the complexity of integrating simultaneously in two spaces — the EU and SES. Minister also stresses that documents on the ES should not lead to “Ukraine losing its status as an active subject.”
Meanwhile, First Vice Premier and Minister of Finance of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, who heads the High-Level Group on Preparing the ES Documents, stated September 3 that creating the Single Economic Space does not contradict to Ukraine’s intent on entering the WTO.
Wednesday’s government meeting, to all appearances, took into consideration numerous critical remarks on the SES, in part, on the draft not meeting the requirements for drawing up international documents. Many experts believe that the SES document contains a plain substitution of notions, meaning that some of its postulates could be treated ambiguously. The differences in the statements of various echelons of power are also difficult to understand: why did the president in Moscow state something contradicting what the economy minister simultaneously said in Kyiv, since their positions can hardly be viewed as complementing each other? Where could such disobedience from Ukraine’s side possibly lead? Obviously, to new calls from the Kremlin. Incidentally, Vladimir Putin could foresee such trend of developments and not rule out the possibility of his visiting Kyiv before the Yalta summit for precisely this reason. However, there might be no need for any prophylactic visit by the Russian leader: judging by Pres. Kuchma’s words, the SES document will be signed in any case. It is still unclear, however, whether it will be signed in its present form or with some changes.
