Chris Bryant

Tough love for Ukraine

The UK is a big supporter of Ukraine which is why I hosted a 'Friends of Ukraine' breakfast meeting in Brussels this Tuesday before the second day of the General Affairs Council. We had a good turnout with a dozen EU Foreign and Europe Ministers, and the new Foreign Minister of Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko.  

Looking round the table it was clear how important Ukraine is to the whole EU, as a major country on our borders.  We will all benefit if Ukraine, building on the progress it has already made, transforms itself into a modern, independent, prosperous European democracy.  Ukraine is responsible for transporting around 80% of Russian gas exports to the EU, so a stable democratic Ukraine, with an effective and transparent energy sector, should be better able to avoid the sort of gas transit crisis that we saw early this year, when many European countries were left without energy for their homes and factories.

But Ukraine has big problems and we were pretty tough in some of the things we said. Ukraine's economy has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. The IMF stepped in earlier this year with a $16.4 billion loan, but Ukraine has failed to meet some of the key conditions attached to the loan, which are designed to put the economy on a more sustainable footing.  We expressed our deep concern about this to Foreign Minister Poroshenko, and stressed the importance of Ukraine's leaders working closely together to get the IMF programme back on track. At some points it must have felt pretty hard work for Mr Poroshenko but we were all keen to ensure that there is a responsible budget next year.

We also, of course, reaffirmed our unwavering support for Ukraine, and the importance of stronger ties soon to be enshrined in an Association Agreement. The EU has an important role to play in supporting the process of economic and political reform in Ukraine, just as we did with the Central and Eastern European countries.  It is crucial, both for Ukraine, the EU, and the wider region, that Ukraine continues this process.

One minister said we had to read the riot act to Ukraine. I prefer the idea of tough love. After all, that's what Ukraine needs: encouragement and support in delivering a more sensible budget, not a carte blanche.

Posted at 15:08 20 November 2009 by Chris Bryant  |  Comments[1]