A Word on Trust and Benefits

In the past three years the US has generously aided Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the Baltic states. Never did we hear about any kind of preconditions or annual inspections. In the case of Ukraine it all came to a scandal last year, when Congressmen voiced their disappointment with Ukrainian reforms and the Ukrainian investment climate. They might have been accused of bias and lobbying the interests of nothing but American business if European and Japanese leaders were not saying the same thing. The US still remains only a symbol: if a state can help itself, we will help it, too. Credit from the International Monetary Fund is also an indicator for the outside world: if it continues, if the loans are big enough, then we can say that this country is really developing and will be able to repay the loans in due time. Another IMF mission is now inspecting Ukraine to determine if it is worthy to receive new loans without which large-scale foreign investment is hardly possible. All those now striving for European Union membership used to opt for IMF credit. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, for example, used it long ago, paid off their debts, and forgot it altogether. In their case, the aid did not look like beating a dead horse.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs finds it all too hard to keep a good mien, when it is common knowledge that things are far from perfect in our society. Annual US inspections in and frequent IMF missions to Ukraine illustrate vividly that the world does not trust our word. This is not the case when contracts can be signed on a paper napkin. And this is one of our real "gains" in the years of independence.

It is not only the US and the European Union that do not trust us. Our nearest neighbors announce that they will have to introduce visa requirement for Ukraine once they become EU members, while most European countries maintain visa-free relations with Switzerland which does not join any alliances.

Meanwhile, European integration looks all the more like pie in the sky for Ukraine.