New Eastern Europe Issue 1

Viktoriya Chyrva, We, the Barbarians of Ukraine Opinion and Analysis 77
Ukrainian politicians are kings of the road. Th ey drive against the traffi c, blazing
their horns (something which has long been banned).
During parliamentary sessions, the square in front of the Supreme Council of
Ukraine (Ukraine’s Parliament) resembles a car expo in Geneva. Ukraine is one of
the world leaders when it comes to the demand for luxu-
rious cars, to the point at which some models are seen in
Kyiv even before they are mass produced.
Yanukovych’s rise to power opened the VIP list to many
more people. On the roads, their cars are treated with
special privileges, which can be quite painful for normal drivers. Kyiv is crammed
with cars more than most other cities, and this problem is doubled by the neverending
road works. Looking at all of this, one can only doubt whether Ukraine
will ever be ready for the EURO 2012 Football Championships.
Our offi cials cannot understand why their western counterparts make their own
decisions to resign. Germany’s Minister of Defence, for example, resigned after
being accused of plagiarism, while Volodymyr Lytvyn, the head of the Ukrainian
parliament, ignored similar charges. A few years ago when the same accusation
was issued, he did not even deny it. Since then, the Ukrainian media have pointed
to many more off ences of Ukrainian politicians. However, these accusations don’t
hurt them. In fact, they give them even more popularity.
Finger pointing
Ukrainian politicians
are kings of the road.
Does Ukraine want to become a member of the European Union? German politician,
Elmar Brok, the former Chairman of the European Parliament Committee
on Foreign Aff airs wasn’t convinced about this at the Yalta conference, and said
he needed to be more assured. Unfortunately, Ukraine has not yet given a clear
indication of such assurances.
Europeans are concerned about everything that is taking place in our country:
corruption, the lack of an independent judicial system, poorly implemented
reforms and the lack of respect for democracy. Rather directly, they say: unless
you change something in your country, you won’t be able to join the European
Union for decades to come. Th e Ukrainian government seems oblivious to this.
It prefers to search for the enemy somewhere else, and claims that the blame for
the problems related to joining the European Union lies with the political opposition.
Th e Ukrainian government also has its own perception of the opposition.
It wants to have an opposition that will support all of its actions, or at least
not question them. Th e opposition states that the reason why its representatives
make broad negative comments about the situation in Ukraine is not because