About EU, Customs Union, and Transnistria

First press conference of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara, held on February 5, demonstrated that the new chief of the office on Mykhailivska Square feels at ease on the post of the head of the Ukrainian diplomacy. On the one hand, he spoke a lot – the press conference lasted for about 40 minutes, but, on the other hand, he avoided specific answers to some very specific questions.

An example of that is his answer to The Day’s question about what the minister or the Ukrainian state authorities in general are going to do in order to make the heads of diplomatic offices of Germany, France, and Sweden join the group of the 13 ministers of foreign affairs from the EU countries-friends of Ukraine, with whom Kozhara met on January 31 in Brussels. The Day also wanted to know what they are going to do to convince those foreign ministers of the necessity of signing the association agreement on the Eastern Partnership Summit, which will be held in fall in Lithuania, so that this year wouldn’t become a year of wasted opportunities, the way it happened last year.

“The concept of isolation of Ukraine is an artificial term that is used by people, who really want to isolate this government. There is no international isolation of Ukraine as such and, to be honest, my work schedule as Foreign Minister is extremely intense. I have visits both to the European countries and to the other parts of the world – to our strategic partners. When we talk about making Germany one of Ukraine’s friends, I should tell you that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Guido Westerwelle is waiting for our meeting in Berlin. What concerns Sweden, Carl Bildt, whom I’ve known for many years and have maintained regular contact with him, was the second minister, who congratulated me on the appointment to office. I have an invitation to come to Sweden. Thus, there are no problems in the context of meeting Ukrainian minister in those countries. I understand what you wanted to say: the issue of some open criminal cases is a certain factor in our relations with the EU. But as a minister I discuss dozens of other issues that are more important today in the context of relations between Ukraine and the European Union, and Ukraine’s relations with each state independently, since Ukraine is a country with 46-million population and has much wider scope of national interests in both the European Union as a whole, and in individual members of the European community,” said Kozhara.

The answer of the chief of the Ukrainian diplomacy to the question about the possibility of Ukraine’s partial accession to the Customs Union was rather vague too. First, he spoke about certain progress towards registration of the cooperation with the Customs Union in the format “3+1.” According to him, last year the Ukrainian government and the Eurasian Economic Commission signed two international documents: Memorandum on Trade and Economic Cooperation and Memorandum on Cooperation in the Field of Technical Regulation. “I think that in the process of negotiations Ukraine will be able to find those modalities, which will reinforce cooperation with the Customs Union. But the dynamics of these negotiations is positive, that is, I think that we will end up with a result that would satisfy the interests of all the parties involved – both Ukraine and the Customs Union,” stressed the head of the Foreign Ministry. In general, it is good that Ukraine insists on its vision of cooperation with the Customs Union, the trade volume between our country and this formation reached 60 billion dollars last year. Another question is whether our country will actually manage to suggest a format of cooperation that would not hamper Ukraine’s integration into European structures.

Speaking about the Ukraine-EU Summit to be held on February 25, Kozhara noted that at this summit Ukraine will raise many important questions ranging from the preparation for the signing of an association agreement to further visa liberalization and engagement of the EU into programs of economic cooperation.

Head of the Foreign Ministry did not give specific answers to questions from journalists about the difference in the positions of the official Kyiv and Moscow on the Transnistrian settlement. Minister just said that the issue of the Transnistrian settlement is one of Ukraine’s priorities during its chairmanship in the OSCE. “In my opinion, Ukraine has all necessary instruments for this (the length of the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Moldova is over 1,200 kilometers), we have special traditional ties on both banks of the Dniester,” said Kozhara. And speaking of Ukraine’s hope for a meeting in a format “5+2,” which will be held on February 19 in Lviv with the participation of Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Speaker of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Yevgeny Shevchuk, the Minister said that there is understanding of the need for discussing the political status of Transnistria on the both sides of the Dniester. “If there are positive changes regarding this issue, it will have positive impact on the process of Transnistrian settlement. We will support such tendencies,” stressed Kozhara.

COMMENTARY

I WOULD LIKE TO WISH MY COLLEAGUE TO USE ALL AVAILABLE MEASURES FOR CONVINCING UKRAINE’S PARTNERS

The Day asked Volodymyr OHRYZKO, former Foreign Minister of Ukraine, to comment on the first press conference of Leonid Kozhara, the statements he made, and the ability of the new minister to ensure the signing of the association agreement.

“Here we have to speak not only about the role of the minister, but also about the desire of the whole government to take steps that would bring us to the signing of an association agreement. In many cases it depends on the spheres that are not within the competence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the minister himself. These aspects are justice, reform of law enforcement, judiciary, and electoral legislation. We all know the facts that have been discussed in the past few months. I would not link the signing of the association agreement and the European prospects of Ukraine in general to the work of the foreign minister only, although, in the context of our chairmanship in the OSCE and the opportunities that we have due to this, the role of the minister is certainly very important and I would like to wish my colleague to use all available measures, and there are many of such measures that the minister can use for communication and convincing Ukraine’s partners. Then, he’d really make history of Ukrainian diplomacy if the association agreement was signed during his cadence.

“What concerns the statement made by Kozhara about the increase in the openness of the Ministry, the open style of work and communication were characteristic also of his predecessors. Therefore, it is absolutely reasonable and correct. In this regard, apart from the very technique of negotiating, I think there is nothing Ukrainian diplomats should hide from their people. Since the strategic course is defined by the law and other regulations, the more Ukrainian citizens know about the real state of our foreign policy, prospects, complex issues, and problems, the stronger will be the position of the Ukrainian diplomacy in this regard. That is why, I would only welcome greater openness and more opportunities for our civil society to know about what is happening in the diplomatic cuisine. In this context, I would really want the Public Council, which has been operating for many years as a part of the Foreign Ministry, to continue its work.

“Speaking about accelerated implementation of the plan for visa liberalization, which has been delayed, I hope that the civil society has yet to say its word. If there is no pressure, the actions will be postponed again. And if Ukrainian citizens instead of complaining about the bad service in foreign embassies, would demand from the authorities to do specific things, then, perhaps, this process will be faster, easier, and more successful.

“As for the balance between the EU integration and maintenance of cooperation with the Customs Union, there are certain questions as to whether Kozhara will be able to do both. Minister is a very important figure in the government and in the state hierarchy. Yet the decisions about the foreign policy course according to the Constitution are made by the president. The implementation of those decisions does, in fact, depend on the government and the minister. From what I understand, in 2011 there appeared the notion of the formula ‘3+1.’ I have also heard Kozhara mention this format today in his press conference. I think that everybody noticed the statement made by the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuele, who spoke about the impossibility of simultaneous participation in both the association agreement and the Customs Union. Again, this was an absolutely clear message that should be taken into account. And what concerns the cooperation with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and other former Soviet Union countries, the logic here is quite evident and it is unchangeable – equality and mutual benefit. Everything else is from the evil one. If Russia tries to restore the empire, there will be no chance for the improvement of the relations, regardless of the government ruling at that time. But if the obvious and pragmatic aspects prevail there, including the fact that Ukraine is an independent state, which decides its fate on its own, there might be a chance for the improvement of the relations.”