Ukraine Between Russia and Europe: Citizens Choice?

Ukraine has been chained into the situation of constant non-compliance with the EU conditionality regarding democratic standards since PCA of 1998 gave us a broad picture of the EU-Ukraine cooperation, conditionality previously defined within the EU-Ukraine Action Plan and currently within Association Agenda. Throughout the integration process of Ukraine the EUs promotion of values is constantly viewed as if the shared values have to be shared by Europes neighbours, while they can be violated by the EU Member States. Ukraines alignment with the EU standards undergoes serious scrutiny while the same values are not followed by EU Member States and abundant examples may be put forward to illustrate this shortcoming. Extra-EU the Union is in confrontation with its own values: even though the EU has developed Policy on Death Penalty within which abolition is a key objective for the Unions human rights policy1, it did not impede the EU to start negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the US. Therefore, this type of discrepancy brings frustration for Ukraine which still fails to conclude an Association Agreement and DCFTA. It would have not been as dramatic if the EUs underperformance vis-a-vis Ukraine did not end up here. The EUs reaction in the latest developments with Ukraine is also discouraging for Ukrainian citizens. The question of consistency and coherence of the Union behaviour which is also disturbing, as Europe seems to be chronically missing strategy in promoting shared values and delivering a clear message to Ukraine. A good example of the fuzzy EUs involvement into promotion of the democratic values can be traced into a set of dubious steps: Council produces Council Conclusions, mentioning the imprisonment of former leader Timoshenko. Catherine Asthon as High Representative and Vice President of the European Commission together in the Joint Communication with tefan Fuele follows the development of the cases as well as constantly reiterates EUs discontent with the democratic slight down. Fuele on behalf of the Commission along with the mentioned Communications attributes official visits to Ukraine, while at the same time conducts meetings with the opposition leaders and civil society. Therefore, on one hand his presence constantly underlines the attention that the EU pays towards the developments in the country, but also show support to opposition as well as civil society which are important pillars in democracy building. European Parliamentarians pays visits, but also produces resolutions, or by conducting extraordinary hearing in the Parliament (e.g 13.03). Former Presidents Aleksander Kwaniewski and Pat Cox, on behalf of the European Parliament, have been involved into observing the cases in Ukraine. Their April report is treated with insignificant attention by fellow MEPs and European media, paling into insignificance until major hurdles arose in the past weeks.

There are also Member States who from time to time give their opinions on the issue. It is gratifying to observe the active involvement of Eastern European EU members, particularly Poland and Baltic
1

This quote comes from the EU External Action website, available at: http://eeas.europa.eu/human_rights/adp/index_en.htm

states, that urged for the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine before the Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit on 28-29 November that eventually did not happen: yet, financial commitments (still within the controversial reforms for democratisation formula) were pledged in consistency with the EU promises during the 2013 EU-Ukraine Joint Summit. The involvements of the mentioned institutions could be potentially useful as on one hand it manifests EUs commitment to its values, and on the other hand, it is expected to synergize the efforts in promoting its values within the neighbourhood. Nevertheless, this multiple involvement does not have any significant progress in case of Ukraine. Moreover, it is viewed by the leadership in Ukraine as chaotic movement of EU who is afraid of Ukraine slipping out of its control but also interfering in its independent judiciary system. As there is no improvement in the domestic situation in Ukraine, the EUs institutions are not effective in case of Ukraine that is at civilisational crossroads with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians rallying in the streets in favour and against the EU. The latest days have made the Union an even less appealing choice for the Ukrainian citizens that are divided on the east-west axis even internally, similarly to the East-West international dilemma. Residents of economically under-developed eastern part of Ukraine rallying pro-government and supporting Russia often end up in overnight clashes with the less poor, anti-government EU minded residents of western Ukraine. Against the canvass of a devastating economy, in the last days Ukraine was offered financial help by Russia who pledged to provide cheaper gas and a multi-billion loan under favourable repayment conditions. Meanwhile, the EU has suspended the negotiations of a comprehensive trade deal with Ukraine: what is even more shocking is the articulation of the no, by Commissioner Fueles twitter account on a Sunday. A loan borrowed from International Monetary Fund is the counter-proposal by the Union to Ukraine. This makes it easier to explain why Ukraines President Yanukovitch flies more frequently to Moscow than to Brussels. The alternatives to Ukrainians rests upon a very controversial opposition: none of the government antagonist powers that appear in surveys have solid European aspirations. Furthermore, what is suspected about former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, Yatsenyuk and Tyahnybok that gather popular support, is that they are puppets manipulated by shadow interests in shaky constellations. The future of Ukraine seems to be dim as beyond-Ukraine civil solidarity with the Europe-spirited protesters in the streets of Kiyiv is manifested by few crowds of roughly a dozen of people in a limited number of capitals. European Alternatives strives to mobilise further reformist voices in Ukraine and across Europe. At our website you shall peruse testimonials of individuals and organisations belonging to a bottom-up transnational network fortifying the European pathway of Ukrainians.