16.04.2008

Address by

Yulia TYMOSHENKO

Prime Minister of Ukraine

(Strasbourg, 14-18 April 2008)

(Extract of the verbatim records)

Mrs TYMOSHENKO (Prime Minister of Ukraine) thanked the President for inviting her to speak. The “Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe” were simple words but words that symbolised democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Ukraine had recently chosen democracy and the pursuit of social unity. The Orange Revolution of 2004 was described by some as a struggle against old ways, but it was better to say that it had been a fight for new values represented by free elections, democracy, a fair judicial system and freedom of expression. Some might say that instability and disillusionment had occurred since the Orange Revolution. That was not so. Change had just begun and it was naïve to believe that it would be instantaneous. Since the Orange Revolution Ukraine had worked to move away from old traditions, and that would continue.

Last April the Council of Europe had called for early elections because of corruption in the Ukrainian Parliament. Those elections had allowed the people of Ukraine to choose a new government. Some questioned whether elections alone could promote economic and constitutional change. The constitutional changes made after 2004 continued to raise challenges, but the time had come for Ukraine to make change and adopt wider European principles. A majority was being built for changes affecting the judiciary, the separation of powers and the creation of the means by which the public could monitor the authorities. A new constitution would help Ukraine to establish the rule of law and free expression. Forthcoming presidential elections would be competitive and create public debate.

The Council of Europe, as the oldest of the European institutions, was a strong symbol of the European values that it had led the fight to establish. Europe was a continent of stability and prosperity, and Ukraine wanted to join the European Union in order to approach the standard of living and adopt the values of the European Union. Different points of view on EU enlargement should be respected, but Ukraine was introducing European standards in all spheres of society in a calm process of evolutionary change.

Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights should be implemented and the EU should accede to it. There was a need to upgrade European legal tools, and the Council of Europe could take the initiative on that. Among priorities for attention were action on integration, migration, terrorism, and trafficking of people and of drugs. Ukraine’s new programme to prevent the trafficking of people had become a serious obstacle to those who operated that trade. Further priorities were the resolution of conflicts, free movement across the whole of Europe and co-operation on energy and security.

In the year since the Council of Europe’s resolution on political institutions in Ukraine successful action had been taken to combat corruption. During her first term as prime minister her government had been unable to survive and had resigned. Now, the new government was introducing greater transparency and had to deal with understandable resistance to change. Regulations and instructions could be written and institutions created, but they were not in themselves enough to overcome corruption. That could be done only if the political will existed and the present government had a strong will to improve the situation.

New systems allowed the opposition greater influence on the decisions of the government, establishing real control and financial auditing. It was paramount that those involved in corruption were held accountable for their actions and brought to justice. Changes in the constitution envisaged creating a constitutional court and establishing a judiciary system without interference from administrative institutions.

In view of the limited time for the debate, it would be difficult to talk about all the issues and developments in Ukraine, but she stressed the importance of continued co-operation between Ukraine and the international community which had supported Ukraine’s emergence from a totalitarian regime into an independent state. She would always remember that. She asked that the Assembly reconsider the famine in Ukraine in 1932-33 and hoped that it would go down in history as a genocide against the Ukrainian people perpetrated by Stalin’s reign of the Soviet Union.

Reforms that were currently taking place in Ukraine were important not only for the country but for the region as a whole. Ukraine was engaged in efforts to develop its democracy further and prove its record on human rights, and she hoped that Ukraine would be used as a good example in this respect, thanks to the will of its political élite. In this Assembly part-session she had felt the Assembly’s strong support for Ukraine and expressed her gratitude to the Assembly.