Arseniy Yatsenyuk
21-01-2010
Good afternoon, everyone! Today I do not speak about politics, at least not internal politics. I would like to express my position and to say a few words about foreign policy and the crisis in general. First, in my opinion, this is not an economic crisis. Second, this crisis is not over yet and I do not see any real signs of the crisis ending. Yes, there are similar political declarations and statements of political leaders. However, has the crisis ended? My answer is “no”. I'll start, at least, with those numbers which you can see every day on CNN or BBC – gold prices grow, oil prices fall. This means only one thing: the world is now in a period of stagnation. If unemployment further increases, the economic crisis will grow wider.
The economy, however, is just a very narrow aspect of this crisis. I am convinced that this crisis is called a "civilization crisis". I can name a few things that were harbingers of the economic crisis and, in fact, caused it. The first is a pandemic. The second is an environmental crisis, including global warming. The third thing is a security crisis, starting with Iran, Korea, the ISAF operation in Afghanistan, and the Russian-Georgian war. And the fourth is a financial crisis in some sectors. Finally, the fifth was a global economic crisis. Incidentally, I recall that in 2008 we had a food crisis as well.
With all this, there is only one analysis of the situation: the world fell into another period of severe turbulence. The first decade of the new century has been incredibly difficult. How to solve problems as they arise- that is the task for world leaders.... You can list a few dozen different international organisations that exist in the world: International Monetary Fund, World Bank, the UN Security Council, the World Trade Organisation and the UN itself. There is still the question of whether the work of these organisations is effective.
There is only one task after the crisis: to realise that the world should devise mechanisms for joint action. We have created in Ukraine a political pandemic; although it is clear that in Ukraine, as in the rest of the world, we suffer from various pandemics, various diseases. This includes the fact that the International Monetary Fund only creates a situation where it allows Ukraine to merely survive, but does not allow it to develop. This drug addiction to any loan means only one thing: this is a time to go through, but we need a time to survive and to develop the country.
I see for Ukraine and for Europe a few tasks. First, it seems to me that in Europe we need to realise that Europe is not only the 27 countries of the European Union, as I have repeatedly stated. I welcome that the European Union ratified the Lisbon Treaty – it is a very important step forward. It is an incredibly serious step forward. This means that the European Union has passed to an absolutely new level of development, a higher level of internal organisation. This means that a super-powerful state was established on the European continent. I would like to focus exactly on that, because those management methods that are already being used in the European Union mean only one thing: the EU has really started to become more and more powerful. However, not only the European Union is Europe. I am perfectly aware that in the short term, it is not clear whether Ukraine should be an EU member or not. My position on this issue is very clear: if the EU is ready to discuss Ukraine's membership in the European Union, then we in Ukraine are ready to discuss it as well. I also understand that the EU is not ready for this discussion..
However, we need to live long; we need to develop further. So, it seems to me that we should start a new real format of relations; not just a declaration, or what we want to believe, but what can really happen.
Several things must take place: first, we need a visa-free regime, bilateral visa-free regime. Secondly, we need free movement of goods and services. And third, we need a political dialogue, because Ukraine is a country with Christian European values. We have the same values with Europe. And the last necessity is joint projects – major joint economic projects, starting primarily with the energy sector. This is a basic task for our bilateral relations. If we set these bilateral relations out in a pragmatic line, we will become, I hope, not just interesting to each other, but also useful for each other.
Ukraine should not forget and we will not forget about our eastern partners as resource countries: starting from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and finishing with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. In my opinion, there is a need for economic integration with these countries.
My third point is regarding our continent as a whole. This global crisis indicated only one thing: there is no longer any hegemon in the world. There is no single hegemon. However, new centres of influence appear. All European countries, including member and non-member countries of the European Union must unite for the European continent to form a powerful centre of influence, or we will be left behind again. It was America before, and in some ten years it will be China. It is easy to predict how events will develop: they will develop dynamically. Dynamic developments will mean one thing: capturing new markets, capturing new spheres of influence, rising new “super powers”. I hope it will not happen that the European continent will be left behind after the economic crisis. This is a chance for us to take leadership as a united Europe and as members and non-members of the European Union. Only the Lord knows how the European Union expansion will end and whether Ukraine will be in these expansion plans. However, the most important thing now is that we are all stronger in bilateral and multilateral contacts. I think this will be the task of our conference. Thank you.
