European Forum Fact Finding Mission to Ukraine

The delegation, co-chaired by Jan Marinus Wiersma (European Forum board member and former Vice-President of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament) and Peter Schieder (former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) met with a number of representatives of Ukrainian political parties, international organisations and independent experts.

Ukraine faces an economic and a political crisis, with the economy shrinking as much as 20% in the first quarter of this year, and 18% in the second, and a deadlock firmly in place in its parliament with the biggest party – Party of Regions – blocking the parliament rostrum, while the Prime Minister and the President do not seem to be able to cooperate while both running in the elections.

Concerning social democracy in Ukraine, it seems to currently consist of a large number of relatively small political parties, that are unable to unite despite there being quite a large popular support for social democracy among the Ukrainian population. This inability to unite can be mainly attributed to the inability of the leaders of said parties to agree on terms and conditions of unification, as contacts and cooperation are experienced on local and regional levels.

Of the Presidential contenders two were often termed most likely to win: PM Yulia Timoshenko and Party of Regions leader Victor Yanukovich. Current President Victor Yuschenko does not seem to stand a chance with a current rating varying between 2% and 5%. Whichever of the two more likely contenders wins the elections, a more stabilised relationship between the President and the parliament seems probable, possibly leading towards work being done more effectively. However, this will largely depend on the readiness of the losing candidate to accept his or her loss. It seems likely that the latter will contend the results in numerous courts – up to the Constitutional Court – resulting in the newly elected President unable to assume his/her duties for some time and prolonging the effects of the grave economic crisis that has hit the country.

A full report of the mission will follow shortly.