Europe Is as Europe Does
// The price of the question
Yulia Timoshenko's confirmation by the Ukrainian parliament as prime minister for the second time with the minimum necessary number of votes is nothing unusual in world practice. Many European states have had the experience of long periods without a government after being unable to form a stable coalition. Belgium has gone half a year without a government now because of a conflict between Flemish and Walloon politicians. In Italy in the 1980s, lengthy government crises were business as usual as all the noncommunist parties tried together to keep the communists off the cabinet and formed shaky coalitions for that purpose.
Something else is unusual. The future minister of defense was unsure that he would cast his deciding vote (and his vote was decisive) in favor of the nominee prime minister the morning of the vote. That is the government that was established in a country that wants to integrate with Europe. And southeastern Ukraine, the densely populated and most economically important region of the country, was practically excluded from the formation of the government. Its representatives either blockaded the podium of the Rada or refused to participate in the session at which Timoshenko was confirmed.
Half a country cannot enter Europe any more than a government that might be overthrown soon as a couple of MPs are absent (intentionally or not) can lead a country into Europe. Especially when the government is led by someone who is practically campaigning for the next presidential election and is a direct competitor with the current president, patron of one of the two blocs forming the coalition. It is a government in which military reform will be carried out by a politician who has never had anything to do with the military before and who has been included in the government only to counterbalance the prime minister (replacing professional Anatoly Gritsenko, who had been minister of defense since 2005). To add to that, the key position of minister of transportation and communications is occupied by political appointee Iosif Vinsky, until recently an advisor to Alexander Moroz but now one of Timoshenko's closest associates, who is not a specialist in transportation.
Let's look again at Europe. In Bulgaria not so long ago, two of the leading political forces, the socialists and the supporters of former king Simeon, that had previously been bitter competitors at the polls, formed a coalition for the sake of European integration with a stable majority in parliament and the support of the overwhelming majority of the public. That government was able to use that consensus to realize its long-term project of joining the European Union, which would have seemed fantastic ten years ago.
Former Ukrainian president wrote a book called Ukraine Isn't Russia. The title became a catchphrase. We could add, however, that Ukraine isn't Bulgaria either.
Alexey Makarkin, deputy general director, Center for Political Technology
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 19, 2007
|
