'People with no ambitions do not go into politics'
Vasyl Kuibida is serving his second term as the mayor of Lviv. Born to a family of political prisoners, who were sent into Siberian exile in the time of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Kuibida joined the national movement for Ukraine’s independence in the late 1980’s and was among the founders of Rukh. Kuibida was more of a romantic in the early 1990s, when he was a member of the National Association of Writers and published two books of poems. He returned to politics in 1994 to win mayoral elections in Lviv and then got re-elected in 1998. Kuibida was elected to parliament as a Rukh member in 1998, but turned down his deputy mandate and stayed in Lviv. Apart from being a respected mayor in his own city, Kuibida heads Ukraine’s delegation at the Congress of Self-government in Strasbourg and is the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Association of City Mayors, a group of regional officials lobbying for more independence from the federal government.
Q: You’re the only mayor in this country who jumped with a parachute to support President Leonid Kuchma during the election campaign. Why did you do that? A: I just jumped with a parachute.
Q: But you did support Kuchma in the election?
A: As a mayor, I did support the incumbent, especially before the second round. Because the choice was not just Kuchma or [Communist leader Petro] Symonenko, but the direction the society would take. For me personally, and I’m sure for the whole of Halychyna [part of western Ukraine that includes Lviv], the return back to the past is very unpleasant.
Q: But under the law, as a government official, you were not supposed to participate in the election campaign.
A: That’s right. For me it was better to formally breach the law and call for all Lviv citizens to vote for Kuchma before the Nov. 14 [run off] than call for civil unrest and things like that after the vote if the election results were different. It would have been inevitable if the communists had won. It was a conscious decision, and I don’t hide it.
Q: The rumor has it that you were promised the speaker’s post in the would-be upper chamber of parliament if it were to be introduced.
A: So far, I have not done anything for pay, and I hope my mind stays clear and I will continue to act in the best interest of my people and as my conscience dictates. On the other hand, a bi-cameral legislature is yet to be established. When the idea was circulated, I supported it, but said people cannot be appointed there. Appointed governors cannot represent their regions.
Q: Now that you have been a mayor for over five years, do you have an ambition to come and work in Kyiv? Or possibly you would like to continue your work in Strasbourg as some people in Lviv believe?
A: I’m the mayor of Lviv – and that’s my ambition. It would be unfair to say that I don’t have any ambitions at all – people who have no ambitions do not go into politics and do not relate their ideas to people. But so far, my ambitions are limited to the city of Lviv. I want to make Lviv the best Ukrainian city.
Before the Soviet era, Lviv possessed a certain niche in the political, economic and cultural life of Europe. The Iron Curtain separated us from it, but the people’s memories are alive and they want it back, and it’s logical.
If we say we want to integrate into Europe and we want to live the same life as Europeans, then we have to be the subjects of the life, not just the objects. We must be able to make decisions.
Before 1939, Lviv had about 20 foreign consular departments, and cultural events in Lviv attracted Western European elite. I think that the Lviv people have very healthy ambitions when they want to return to that.
Q: How can that happen if a new Iron Curtain is being erected: many Eastern European countries plan to introduce visas for Ukraine as of next year?
A: Yes, you’re right. But on the other hand, we could’ve waited for the federal government to do it, but we would have to wait for a very long time. I personally am not the kind of person to wait. I enjoy being able to do something. If I wait for somebody to do something, why go to politics? You can just plant cabbage and wait for somebody to do things for your city and your country to get better. I’m a citizen of this country and my understanding of it is that I am not going to let my will be subdued.
For me it’s a matter of principle to finish what I started (when I was elected mayor in 1994). When you build a railway, put a train on it and make sure it goes in the right direction, then you can let it go on its own.
Q: What stage is the construction of your railway at?
A: It’s nearing completion. The railway is finished, the train is almost there. I’m a creative person and it will be boring for me to stay if days just pass by. So, I will probably have to leave Lviv. But I don’t know where I will go – I guess somewhere where you have to think, look for compromises and build something new.
Q: You and Kyiv mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko were planning to open representative offices in your cities. What do you need them for?
A: All major decisions are made in Kyiv, and it’s not good. The regional policy has to change – but it will take years. We can’t just wait for it to happen, but on the other hand, I cannot solve all of Lviv’s problems in Kyiv. It would be better to unite the effort of all of Lviv’s state enterprises and set up their representation in Kyiv. We will save money on various business trips as well. We are ready to offer Kyiv a building in Lviv and get any building in Kyiv instead.
Q: So when are you going to sign the agreement?
A: We have agreed on a joint meeting of our city councils in January. We didn’t want to do anything during the election, even though we wanted to do it faster.
Q: Another thing I wanted to talk about is separatist moods in western Ukraine.
A: I think it’s either ill-wishers who talk about separatism, or those who don’t know our history. We’re not talking about an independent Halychyna. If we wanted it, it would’ve been done a long time ago. On the other hand, out state is not uniform ethnically, psychologically and politically, even though the latest election showed that the differences are getting smoother. Halychyna has its own values but it will try to enforce them on the rest of Ukraine rather than separate.
