WORLD view
The Ukraine — European Union Summit held in Vienna did not and could not provide a quick and clear answer to a number of questions at a time: does the EU actually want to ever see Ukraine a member? Will trade and visa procedures between the two parties be ever liberalized? Will the EU have any action strategy with regarding Ukraine at all? However, at last, there was for the first time an official reaction from Europe to the strategic policy of Ukraine’s integration into the EU, announced by President Kuchma. According to the final documents, this policy was “taken into consideration”, and this very is viewed positively in Kyiv.
The summit meeting could not answer any question because neither President of the European Commission Jacques Santer, nor anyone else was authorized to speak on behalf of all EU Member Countries without having in hand their agreed position. There is no such position with regard to Ukraine: EU member states simply agree that Kyiv is not prepared yet to sign an EU agreement on associate membership (currently ten countries have signed such agreements). Ukraine’s preparedness depends on the country itself and on its Observance of its Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU.
However, according to one high-level Ukrainian diplomat, we have achieved for the first time that all our proposals — concerning Kyiv participation in the European Conference of Member Countries and EU Membership Candidates, launching negotiations on a free-trade zone, minimization of the negative impact on Ukraine resulting from the entry of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary into the EU, creation of a joint expert group to determine Ukraine’s place in Europe — will be very carefully considered...
The diplomats say that the summit meeting is not a mechanism to approve decisions, but a tool to identify and adjust different parties’ positions. In Vienna, it was revealed for the first time that none of the parties would like to lead the contacts between them to a dead end. In fact, we have made only the first steps on the long road, and in Vienna Kuchma recognized that he had no illusions about Ukraine’s speedy integration. He only forgot to say that it was also due to his ruling or, rather, the results achieved in the last few years by this country, that Ukraine has been somehow heard only recently.
Where and when the next summit will be held is not yet known. What is known is that it will be held: the mechanism has begun to work. And the Ukrainian delegation came back to Kyiv with an EU resolution to give Ukraine the first portion of the loan to stabilize its balance of payments (ECU 150 million), a promise to allocate $203 million to make the Chornobyl Sarcophagus (the crippled Unit 4 reactor) safe, and a “substantial” loan to complete units at the Khmelnytsky and Rivne nuclear power stations. The EU has also promised to support development of the Eurasian Transportation Corridor through Ukraine and the Caucasus (TRASECA project). And, probably, these specific actions will assist in establishing a consensus within the EU as for whether Ukraine is a part of Europe and what rights it should have. Also, they will encourage Ukraine to reach a level where nobody can ignore its interests.
