Yushchenko’s “leading lights”
Ukrainian president eager to have Romania as an advocate
President Victor Yushchenko’s visit to Romania left a rather strange impression. On the one hand, the right words on neighborly relations and constructivism were said, and the first session of the Ukrainian- Romanian Yushchenko-Basescu Joint Commission took place. On the other, the Ukrainian president’s words on Romanian advocacy against the background of the lack of progress in mutual relations struck a dissonant note.
Furthermore, there is an impression that the Ukrainian side had to yield to its neighbor on many questions. Among them are Romania’s refusal to take part in completing the construction of the Kryvy Rih Mining and Processing Plant for Oxidized Ores (KHZKOR), the cancellation of the visa regime for the benefit of Romania, and joint monitoring of all the projects linked to the Danube-Black Sea canal that Ukraine started to build in 2004. According to the protocol, Ukraine has to fulfill all international obligations on environmental protection in the vicinity of the canal.
Romania’s refusal to take part in completing the construction of KHZKOR means that the Ukrainian side will have to return the money invested by Romania in this project. President Traian Basescu expressed the hope that the Romanian side will be able to recover the nearly one billion dollars of investments that were put into the Kryvy Rih plant. Interestingly, at the same time he admitted that “the sum of money that Romania will be able to recover is not the main thing — it may be 30 or 200 percent, everything will depend on the results of the possible privatization of the KHZKOR.”
Despite pressure from the European Commission, the Ukrainian side was in no hurry to cancel the visa regime regarding Romania, which has been an EU member since Jan. 1, 2007, because the decision on canceling the visa regime was adopted earlier by Ukraine and it referred to all the EU member countries. It is quite apparent that official Kyiv would be interested in receiving some sort of preferences instead of canceling the visa regime. President Yushchenko has promised to abolish visas for Romanian citizens by the end of this year.
It is not yet clear what benefits or preferences the Ukrainian side will get from Romanian concessions, and how Bucharest’s advocacy can be useful for Ukraine. It is praiseworthy that the head of the Ukrainian state is eager to develop relations with Romania on the basis of neighborly relations, mutual trust, and constructivism. This was stressed by Yushchenko during a meeting at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with members of the Nicolae Titulescu Foundation, professors and lecturers of the Diplomatic Academy, and representatives of influential non-governmental organizations that deal with foreign policy problems.
“We would like to see Romania as our loyal partner and honest advocate,” Ukrainian president said in his speech entitled “Ukraine: The European Future of a European State.” The president noted that Ukraine’s membership in the European Union and NATO is “the moment that makes our relationships more stable and qualitative.” At the same time he admitted that Ukraine is proceeding from the fact that the next 12 months will be dedicated “to formulating the content part of the Ukraine-EU agreement.” The president added that Kyiv does not have a “particular goal to mark the year of Ukraine’s accessions to the EU” and underlined, “Our goal is for Ukraine to obtain European prospects, for Ukraine to get a ‘leading light,’ so that everything will be done according to defined criteria.”
In the president’s opinion, the status of the Yushchenko-Basescu Commission is “the highest and most adequate [one] to the challenges Ukraine and Romania are facing.” Yushchenko also announced that the Ukrainian and Romanian sides have discussed the action plan of Ukrainian-Romanian relations for the next two years and signed a protocol that responds to nearly 20 initiatives and questions of bilateral relations. “In my view, we have made a good inventory of problem issues. President Basescu and I have set ourselves the task to free our relations from all the misunderstandings that we have inherited,” President Yushchenko underlined.
In his opinion, Ukraine and Romania can deepen and develop their cooperation, particularly in the energy sphere. “We should enrich our bilateral relations with our close neighbors and the European Union with concrete projects. Our mutual political, cultural, and trade attractions are an objective reality and an objective need,” President Yushchenko underlined.
