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Focus on Ukraine, July 21–27, 2008

July 28, 2008
Focus on Ukraine

The Democratic Initiatives Foundation follows political events in Ukraine with the aim of monitoring the pre-election promises of the country’s leading political forces that won seats in the parliament as a result of the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada on September 30, 2007. The monitoring is conducted within the framework of the project “Where are our political leaders taking us?”

July 21

Today Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merckel arrived in Kyiv on an official visit to discuss Ukraine’s intentions of joining the NATO Membership Action Plan.
Recall that at the April summit in Bucharest, Germany was one of the countries that opposed Ukraine’s membership in the MAP.

German Chancellor Angela Merckel stated in her meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko that Ukraine will become a member of NATO in the future.
The chancellor said that she personally supports the initiative of Ukraine joining NATO, though Kyiv must first implement military reforms before this can happen.
Another requirement is that the majority of the population supports the idea of joining the military alliance.
Merkel believes that the members of NATO will evaluate Ukraine’s progress no sooner than December and that Germany is prepared to assist Ukraine in the process of integration into NATO.

After talks with President Yushchenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Ukraine can count on associated membership in the EU as early as September.
There are good chances that such an agreement will be signed during the Ukraine-EU summit to be held in France.
At the same time, Merkel emphasized that granting Ukraine the status of associated membership in the EU does not mean that it will automatically become a member of the EU and NATO.
Merkel raised the issues of energy, public utilities, AIDS and churches during her meeting with Premier Yulia Tymoshenko.

July 22

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko announced that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet will leave Crimea on time. The accordant draft law has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada.
Recall that earlier representatives of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced they are ready to review the issue of raising the rent for the stationing of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea after 2017.
In response, the Ukrainian side said it will not review the possibility of extension of the agreement and will suspend the validity of the agreement on May 28, 2017.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko affirmed that a visa regime for Ukraine may be possible as early as 2012.
The minister said that today it was agreed in Brussels that negotiations will begin on this issue. Agreements will be made at the next EU summit in France. This essentially means that 2011will be the last year that Ukrainians will stand in line for visas to countries of the EU.

July 23

The ministers of foreign affairs of EU countries that convened at the summit in Brussels did not agree on what decision will be made regarding Ukraine at the Ukraine-EU Summit in September.
They agreed that Ukraine should not be pushed aside, though it should not be promised EU membership even in the foreseeable future.
There are two reasons for this: the internal European crisis related to the Treaty of Lisbon and the political instability in Ukraine.
At the same time, the ministers decided that entering talks about eliminating the visa requirement for Ukrainians traveling to EU countries may be a possible concession.

July 24

President Viktor Yushchenko summarized Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policies for the first half of 2008 during a special press conference on the lawn of next to the Presidential Secretariat.
The president said the high level of inflation in Ukraine is due to errors in the country’s economic policy. The head of state denied the fact that foreign factors are to blame for the galloping inflation.
Yushchenko reminded that the current rate of inflation is 15.6%, which is the highest in Europe and countries of the CIS. He placed responsibility for this on the government of Premier Yulia Tymoshenko.

Member of the Party of Regions Vasyl Khara said in an interview on Deutshce Welle that the party does not support the draft law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the withdrawal of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 2017.
At the same time, he complained that nobody consulted with the Party of Regions on this issue. In his opinion, it is premature to speak about the withdrawal of the Russian fleet, though Russian ships must leave Crimea as the stationing of foreign military ships is a violation of the Constitution.

The visit of His Excellency and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I on the occasion of the 1,020th anniversary of the Christening of Kyivan Rus should give a jump start to the consolidation of Ukrainian Orthodoxy that will unite Ukrainians in a single church.
President Viktor Yushchenko also expressed his convictions on this note at a press conference in Kyiv. He pointed out that this is the first visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to Ukraine in 350 years.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate approved the appeal to the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I to not support the initiative of Viktor Yushchenko on forming a Ukrainian church independent of Moscow.
In addition to that, the Moscow patriarch appealed to senior priests of churches to not attend the celebration of the christening of Kyivan Rus in Kyiv.
This is how Aleksei II is seemingly trying to obstruct the participation of priests in “non-canonical activities during the celebration”, meaning the possible subordination of the Ukrainian church to the Kyiv patriarchate of Constantinople. Aleksei did not cancel his visit on his own doing.

July 25

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I arrived in Kyiv for the celebration of the 1,020th anniversary of the Christening of Kyivan Rus.
In his speech at Boryspil International Airport, the Patriarch said he came to Ukraine to pray for the formation of a united church of the Ukrainian people and pay respect to the victims of the Great Famine of 1932-1933.
President Viktor Yushchenko thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for visiting Ukraine and said this is a sign of God’s blessing of all Ukrainian people.
The patriarch held a joint vigil in the Kyivo-Pecherska Lavra together with Metropolitan Volodymyr.
The honorable guest laid flowers at the memorial to Kyiv saints. That evening the Ecumenical Patriarch conducted a mass in the St. Sofia Cathedral.

 





 



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