אוקריינא בייַ אַ שיידוועג

Ukrainian presidential hopefuls gathered today in Brussels to debate the country’s future.  Candidate Vitaliy Skotsyk writes for EU Reporter about the opportunities and challenges the country faces.

In a month, Ukraine holds its most important presidential election for decades. Our nation is at a crossroads. The five-year-old conflict with Russia is causing intolerable suffering and must end. Pathways towards the European Union and NATO beckon. But we must also conquer paralysing corruption and fix our goal on a sustainable political and economic system and new national identity. I stand as one of 44 election candidates, ranging from former political leaders to television celebrities, but the principal arguments are much unchanged. How far west should Ukraine look? What is its future as a strong, independent nation? Where do its security, vision and hope lie? We need to build a new democracy by setting clear, achievable priorities for national transformation.

Corruption is a major obstacle for political, economic and spiritual development and threat to national security. For decades, government action has been ineffective. We need a “zero declaration” offering protection against retrospective action in return for a commitment to managing one’s affairs legally, fairly and transparently from now on. Ukrainian corruption stems from faulty legislation and an incapacitated judicial system. Formal anti-corruption apparatus has not solved the problem. We need to clearly define all political corruption’s forms. Until it is overcome at the highest level, there will still be illegal lobbying within authorities, shadow funding of political parties, bribing of voters and manipulation and abuse of the state budget. Punishment must be seen as inevitable, with no protection for elites. We need to change Ukraine’s political establishment, reform its judicial system and create transparent rules for business and favourable investment. Ukraine’s solidarity tax system has to end and governance, society, education and healthcare made truly inclusive of all citizens.

Ukraine’s state management is too vulnerable to personal power-building and stultifying local democracy. We need a new constitution and governance structure in which the President and Prime Minister no longer fight for power. Adopting a German-style model would give Ukraine a strong, credible President to engage on the international stage, whilst allowing the economy to be run by a parliamentary system. Our 450-member assembly should be halved and separated into a lower chamber of 125 representatives and a 75-member senate. The leader of the party with the most votes becomes Prime Minister, running a coalition government where necessary.

The five-year war with Russia is threatening Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and European peace and stability. Direct discussions, based on the Minsk and Budapest talks, are needed to restore Ukraine’s borders, while there must also be genuine engagement with Ukrainians in the occupied territories. We have not deserted them. Ukraine needs effective support from the international community, with peacekeeping on the Russian border under the auspices of the United Nations, plus further cooperation on strengthened sanctions and information and cyber security.

אַדווערטייזמאַנט

Ukraine is a European state with European values ​​and aspirations and needs a mutually-beneficial, pragmatic partnership with the EU. Dialogue about European integration must be intensified to achieve agreements supported by closer cooperation over inward investments and the return of peace and restoration of territory affected by Russian aggression. NATO also has a clear role to play in underpinning Ukraine’s security and stability. However, neither it or the EU can fix our political system or end our corruption. Ukraine itself must define what it wants.

Over the next decade, Ukrainian resources can guarantee long-term food security in not just our own nation but across Europe. Our agricultural heritage, land and expertise enable us to feed more than 500m people, becoming the world’s bread-basket. With state support, developed agri-business can become our economic cornerstone. Ukraine also needs to transition from raw material production to processing, revive machine building and aircraft engineering and develop its technology sector. Ukraine can be in the top 20 nations for highest human development if it is free from oligarchies, monopolies, corruption and nepotism and independent in energy. It needs genuine reform, not slogans or the kind of banal populism threatening centrist, liberal politics across Europe. Populists promise everything but it is often at the expense of others.

As a newcomer to politics, I am not connected with Ukraine’s prevailing power structure or bankrolled by oligarchs. Over four years, I have renewed the Agrarian party, touring Ukraine nine times, revitalising grass-root political energy. Last April, the party achieved a 15.7% vote in local elections, tripling its support over three years with no state finance. Party membership has grown from 1,000 to 71,000 members. It’s a great start but no-one will come to build a state for us. On March 31, Ukraine gets a chance to do that for itself.

 

 

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