Time To Dispel Myths

The political crisis in Ukraine and myths concerning it have not affected the economic stability and the declared intentions to integrate into the European community, the Secretary of the National Defense and Security Council, Yevhen Marchuk said addressing a June 18 Kyiv forum on Prospects For Increasing Foreign Investment in Ukraine. As Marchuk stressed, many myths that were triggered by the political crisis and the cassette scandal worsened the investment climate in Ukraine. Those myths, the NDSC Secretary reiterated, were created not only inside but also outside Ukraine “and not only by journalists using mass media technologies, but also by such organizations as the Council of Europe, the European Union, and some other highly respected bodies.” These organizations, Mr. Marchuk believes, have fallen prey to biased information about what has been happening in Ukraine and consequently made many errors. “Myths were created based on such events in Ukraine as the government crisis, scandal, death of the journalist, the sloppy work of law-enforcement, and the shortcomings of the executive,” he said. Those who focused on isolated fragments “have make major mistakes and drawn incorrect conclusions,” for the political crisis did not affect the economy, Interfax-Ukraine quotes him as saying.

Nor has the economy been affected by the Yushchenko government’s fall viewed by some foreign diplomats as a tragedy for the Ukrainian people. “There has been no tragedy. For the first time in Ukraine we had a case when lawmakers, not the president, punished the premier for not cooperating with parliament,” he added.

In addition, Mr. Marchuk continued, fears including those by US Congress representatives that the new government will stall economic reform, flee toward Russia, turn its back on Europe and allow Russia to engulf it have proven short-lived. “Nothing of the kind has happened. The conflict that erupted has failed to deviate one iota Ukraine’s European vector. On the contrary, we have seen a strong upsurge of Ukraine’s foreign trade activity with Europe,” the NDSC Secretary maintained. It was at the climax of its political crisis that Ukraine submitted to NATO its long-term five year program of cooperation, the president issued his edict on cooperation with the European Union, and presented to lawmakers his annual address which this year included two new chapters: on poverty and on integration with Europe and cooperation with the EU, Marchuk emphasized.

Mr. Marchuk believes the president and his team have emerged from the crisis strengthened. “Given political weakness, the forthcoming parliamentary elections and burning by the former government of bridges of cooperation between the government and parliament, the trend for the consolidation of stability continues to dominate”, the secretary noted. Supporting his stand, he cited the new government’s recent initiatives of setting up a Coordinating Council for the cooperation of the cabinet with Verkhovna Rada and plans to appoint a permanent representative of the government, not the prime minister, to the parliament.