Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-01-Speech-3-060"
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"en.20041201.10.3-060"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, and our guests from Ukraine, who must be listening attentively to this debate. Without any more fear of contradiction, we can state that the abuses that took place during the Ukrainian elections were such that the results are unacceptable. Even Prime Minster Yanukovich himself has asked for the election results to be invalidated, particularly as there was some confusion in the western parts of the country. The leader of the opposition, Mr Yushchenko, and international observers, on the other hand, discovered that there was some confusion in eastern parts. Both, however, agree that the elections were not fair, something that everyone acknowledges.
The first countries to approve the rigged election results, which include Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus, should be the first to take a look in the mirror. I would like to thank the Ukrainian opposition forces for calmly and patiently managing to make the voice of democracy heard in difficult circumstances. The EU should adopt a calm but determined stance on the situation in Ukraine. Our task is to promote democracy and human rights. This we have done in the case of Ukraine.
Much will be decided in these elections. The elections will decide whether Ukraine is to become a large version of Poland, a western European country with an open attitude towards democracy, or a small version of Russia, which looks to the east and an authoritarian, quasi-democracy. I hope that we in the EU agree which would be preferable. We will nevertheless respect the Ukrainian people’s right of self-determination. As long as the second round of elections is organised democratically and fairly, we have to respect the outcome, whether it accords with our personal opinions or not. If what I personally hope for were to happen and Yushchenko won, the losing party, that is, Yanukovich’s supporters, would not just fade into the background. We have to be able to work closely with them too. The Ukrainian nation is already a very much divided one, and we should not add to or aggravate this division and the policies it relies on. We need to secure a peaceful solution to enable all the Ukrainian people to continue building their society as a united Ukraine based on democracy, human rights, and the EU’s common principles of the rule of law."@en1
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