EP bezorgd naarmate democratische belofte Oranjerevolutie dreigt te verwateren (en)

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - MEPs have urged the EU to help prime minister Julia Tymoshenko's Verkhovna Rada party win upcoming elections, or risk Ukraine's reform process and EU ambitions sinking into disillusionment and torpor.

"We have to help them win, even if we are not completely satisfied with the present government", Polish conservative MEP Jerzy Buzek said in Strasbourg on Wednesday (7 September).

To this end, Mr Burzek called on Europe to clarify its democratic credentials by toning down its "flirtation" with the "non-democratic" Russian government, step up EU visits to Kiev and call on member state diplomats to share democratic know-how with their Ukrainian counterparts.

"We need Russia in Europe, but a democratic Russia", he added.

Ukraine's parliamentary elections are scheduled for March 2006, with Ms Tymoshenko's party heading for a slim win against a discredited and divided opposition led by the pro-Russian candidate, Viktor Yanukovych.

Other members of the Parliament's Ukrainian delegation also criticised the "arbitrary" nature of the EU's current debate on enlargement and the cooling off of EU support for president Viktor Yushchenko's regime since the heady days of the Orange Revolution last year.

One MEP said that the very fact that the Ukranian delegation is dominated by Polish and other eastern European members shows a lack of interest on the part of western European powers.

Bread and gas before Europe

European Parliament vice-president and Ukraine delegation leader Marek Siwiec reported that Ukraine's reform process has all but halted in the run-up to the 2006 elections.

And Polish liberal member Grazyna Staniszewska bemoaned the negative attitude creeping into Kiev's relations with the European Parliament in recent months.

"It's almost as if they want to break off contact with us", she indicated.

Meanwhile, delegation members who visited Ukraine in July confirmed that progress toward the country's ten year goal of joining the EU has slowed.

"I observed many signs of oligarchism", British conservative MEP Charles Tannock said. "I've never seen so many Bentley turbos in the centre of Kiev, with tens of bodyguards spilling out of them".

Mr Tannock also saw politicians in the semi-autonomous pro-Russian Crimea region burning a NATO flag, and pointed out that the credibility of Mr Yuschehnko's government has suffered both domestically and in the west due to corruption scandals.

In the past few days, one of Mr Yushchenko's most senior aides, Oleksandr Zinchenko, resigned in protest over colleagues who allegedly abuse their positions to set up business deals.

Over the summer, Mr Yushchenko's son was exposed driving a €130,000 BMW and holding the post of economic adviser at the age of 19.

"We must keep them hot on the topic [of EU accession], because in everyday life, the main topic is the price of gas and bread, not European values", Latvian conservative member Aldis Kuskis said.