Editor's Note: Alexander Stubb, the minister for European affairs and foreign trade in Finland, gave a brief interview to Russian and Ukrainian journalists on March 13 at the Finnish Foreign Ministry in Helsinki. His high-profile career began as a member of the European Parliament, where he became one of the most well-known lawmakers. Stubb rose to foreign minister after his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva, resigned over a text-messaging scandal with a stripper. Stubb's popularity with Finns is high, not only due to his political work, but also his active social and athletic life. He's a frequent participant in marathons and triathlons. He is also the author of number of books and newspaper articles. In the 2011 parliamentary elections, Stubb proved to be the second most popular candidate in Finland.
HELSINKI — The
European Union is not quitting on Ukraine just yet, said Alexander Stubb,
Finland’s minister of European affairs and foreign trade. But clearly, Stubb said, relations could be better.
“I don’t think that the European Union is running out of patience yet,”
says Stubb, 45. “But the discussions on Ukraine are not necessarily as
positive and as constructive as they used to be a few years back.”
Just weeks after the EU on Feb. 25 repeated that President Viktor Yanukovych must strengthen democracy if he hopes to sign a trade and political association agreement with the EU in November, Ukraine took another step backwards.
Serhiy Vlasenko, lawyer for imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko, was kicked out of parliament — ostensibly for holding a job in addition to his parliament seat, something that many other members do.
The EU has made it clear that the 27-nation bloc wants an end to political persecution in Ukraine, including the release from prison of Tymoshenko, ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and others.
“The council of ministers – the
foreign ministers who are dealing with (Ukraine) – have given rather
strong messages over the past few months in the Tymoshenko case as well,”
recalled Stubb.
This has raised the stakes for the EU-Eastern Partnership summit
scheduled for November in Vilnius, Lithuania.
But EU members say the decision to sign will be based on Ukraine’s progress in curbing selective justice,
strengthening rule of law and launching a new election law.
The deadline is May for judging whether improvement have been made on all fronts.
Failure to sign the agreement would be a setback for EU’s relations with Eastern
Partnership countries, which besides Ukraine includes post-Soviet countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova.
Stubb is optimistic. “I
don’t think that all the eggs should be put in the Vilnius basket when it
comes to the Eastern Partnership,” he said. “Of course if an association agreement is not signed between Ukraine and the European Union – its not
good, but doesn’t mean the end of the world either.”
In any case, Finland is more focused on Russia.
“I don’t think (Ukraine’s EU
integration) is an issue that figures in the day-to-day debate in Finland,”
noted Stubb.
Europe’s economic blues are also distracting and have given rise to nationalist parties.
In Finland, the nationalist party the True Finns won nearly a
quarter of the seats in parliament during the 2011 election.
Finns are unhappy with having their taxes spent on bailouts for other EU members as Finland finished 2012 in recession with expectations of little growth this year.
Nor are Finns alone in their frustration. Italy’s 2013 general elections elevated Beppe Grillo, a
former comedian and now a leader of the Euro-skeptic Fiver Star Movement. The party won more than 25 percent of votes, becoming the lead party in Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.
“Beppe Grillo, the former
clown in Italy, is a good example of that (populist movement),” Stubb
added.
As the road to the EU gets steeper for Ukraine by the day, some Ukrainian
diplomats in Finland, in turn, argue that the association agreement
is the roadmap for Ukraine to deliver progress and
should be signed regardless of the current unhappiness in the EU with Yanukovych’s record on democracy, rule of law and human rights.
Kyiv Post staff writer Maryna Irkliyenko can be reached at [email protected].
