Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-10-27-Speech-3-131"
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"en.20041027.9.3-131"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I too would like to point out the enormous importance of Ukraine as a strategic partner of the European Union. Ukraine, being one of our immediate neighbours, with which we have close economic, social and human ties, is very particularly significant in terms of the long-term stability, security and prosperity of our European continent. Ukraine is an important partner in establishing security and stability throughout the region; there is no doubt that it shares in our European culture and in our common history.
I would also like to make it clear to you, though, that we cannot lower our standards for adherence to shared values and democratic principles, on which depends the implementation of our European Neighbourhood Policy action plan for the future – which is a very ambitious one.
It is not acceptable that authorities and other state bodies should interfere in elections at various levels and in all manner of different ways. Nor is it acceptable that not only opposition politicians, but also independent civil society initiatives should be subject to increasingly repressive measures. The first preliminary reports by the observers sent by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights paint a somewhat gloomy picture of only partly objective reporting on the part of the national electronic media.
Critical and sceptical I may be, but I remain confident that the presence of election observers can help the elections to proceed in a democratic and legitimate manner. The European Union has mounted a number of projects in order to try to help the Central Election Commission, non-governmental organisations and journalists to play their parts in the election process.
It is cause for gratitude that the European Parliament, like the EU’s Member States and the Commission, is sending observers to participate in the OSCE’s International Election Observation Mission. Those who are then to report to us from Ukraine will have very great responsibilities, for much of what we do in Ukraine in the future will depend on what they have to say.
There is no doubt that the election represents a crucial test for democracy in Ukraine. We in this place should appeal to the state authorities, to the media, to the political parties and, not least, to the candidates, to allow the remaining days of the campaign leading up to the election to be characterised by democracy, the rule of law and fairness, which are absolute requirements.
While the Commission is indeed prepared to promptly implement, under the New Neighbourhood Policy, the closer cooperation with the new President that we seek, it is not in the least irrelevant to us how this election is won. Let me conclude by repeating that the closer partnership with Ukraine that we want is dependent on its commitment to common values and democratic principles and a determined and unambiguous policy of allowing these values and principles to be realised in day-to-day political life.
In its November 2003 resolution on the European Neighbourhood Policy, the European Parliament reaffirmed that Ukraine – like any other European state with a democratic constitution and a market economy – should have the option of, one day, applying for membership of the European Union, subject to its fulfilling the relevant conditions.
This is not, at present, on our agenda, but my staff and I have nonetheless, over the past months, devised a medium-term and concrete perspective for the enlarged European Union’s neighbours – the European Neighbourhood Policy to which Mr Nicolaï has already referred. Liasing closely with the Ukrainian Government, we have devised a concrete and tailor-made action plan, which I will shortly be submitting to the Commission and, immediately thereafter, also to the Council and to Parliament.
Mr Nicolaï has already referred to the many vital and new things that are on offer to Ukraine and to its people through the Neighbourhood Policy.
We should not forget that we have cooperated to a significantly greater extent with Ukraine over recent years, especially since the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement entered into force in 1998. Dialogue is being cultivated in a variety of ways, including an annual summit. The European Parliament also, under our Partnership Agreement, has developed its own framework for in-depth dialogue with the Ukrainian Parliament. It gives me great pleasure that the new chairman of your House’s delegation to Ukraine, Mr Siwiec, is from Poland, one of Ukraine’s immediate neighbours.
Although open and frank dialogue between partners ought to be the most obvious thing in the world, it is rather remarkable that the Ukrainian presidential elections scheduled for the coming weekend have shown themselves to be – to put it mildly – deserving of criticism to a significant degree. I can, unfortunately, do no other than concur wholeheartedly with Mr Nicolaï’s expressions of the gravest concern at the omissions and irregularities apparent in the election campaign, especially as regards the freedom of the media.
I do not want the Members of this House to misunderstand me; this has only a very tenuous connection with the debate we have just had on Belarus. There is no doubt whatever of the progress Ukraine has made towards becoming a democratically constituted state, and, when it is borne in mind that the states that succeeded the former Soviet Union found this road a particularly long one, credit should be given for that. Real political parties are coming into being. Civil society is taking shape, and a whole array of non-governmental organisations are becoming vigorously active. Regulations and mechanisms intended to guarantee due legal and democratic process have been drawn up and reformed in close cooperation with the Council of Europe and the OSCE, in which the support of the European Commission has been crucial.
Still to this day, though, it is a regrettable fact that, in Ukraine, many of these ground rules of democracy and the rule of law exist only on paper. This is probably the fundamental truth that emerges from the present situation, as that country is preparing to go to the polls.
It is a fact that what we can see going on there now is an election campaign with virtually no holds barred. We can of course see that as a positive sign, an indication of political competition, but it can also be seen as evidence that there is much still to be desired as regards political culture. We should not forget, though, that there is a significant difference in comparison with other states in the region. Whatever else might be said about it, the present election campaign in Ukraine is a real one, with several genuine and competing candidates."@en1
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