Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-01-Speech-3-031"
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"en.20041201.10.3-031"2
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".
Mr President, the eyes of the whole world are glued to Ukraine. The crowds in Kiev who are demonstrating in favour of normality and justice, and who retain their calm and their dignity, rightly deserve our admiration. We all pray that, unlike in the past, it will be the Ukrainians alone who decide their future. Whilst enthusiasm is a positive thing, however, blindness certainly is not. There is a tendency to oversimplify the situation in Ukraine – one side is presented as completely black and the other completely white. When we decide to give democracy lessons and speak of standards, we must ensure that that democracy applies across the board.
We rightly condemn one side for not complying with the basic rules on holding free elections, yet I have Internet pages in my hand, taken from a Ukrainian newspaper, denouncing, a few days ago, an election document distributed in Western Ukraine by some supporters of Yushchenko. Under the heading ‘Ukraine for the Ukrainians’, the article says that ‘the election of Viktor Yushchenko guarantees us the installation of a national dictatorship... Let us chase the Muscovites, the Polacks and the Jews out of our lands... Our power will be terrible for the Muscovites, the Jews and the Poles who refuse to adopt our faith, etc.’. If Parliament turns a blind eye to such incitement to hatred, then we will be made to look ridiculous. If we preach morality to some, we must also preach it to others. Let us be clear about this, I do not suspect for one moment that the vast majority of Ukrainians think this way, but history teaches us that particularly aggressive minorities can take power and confiscate from whole peoples the fruits of their just uprising. The British delegation in Helsinki has also reported a number of racist statements made by Yushchenko supporters.
I therefore sincerely hope that my Ukrainian brothers, for whom I feel special affection, elect the President of their choice. I also hope, however, that that President does not fall into the trap of discriminating against national or religious minorities, and let us hope that no more foreign countries meddle in Ukraine’s internal affairs. I am a Member of the Independence and Democracy Group, so I say long live independent and democratic Ukraine!"@en1
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