On October 26, 2021, a debate was held by European experts on a topic that is now quite acute for all of us: „Is Ukraine now an uncontrolled, aggressive neighbor or a desirable partner for the EU?“
At the „Open Europe“ round table, the following spoke on this issue: Ruslan Pankratov – head of the Latvian political party „Ricibas“, Algirdas Paleckis – Lithuanian politician, diplomat, former mayor of Vilnius, Belgian political scientist, publicist, international relations expert, former deputy the mayor of Liege, the head of the Peter the Great Foundation – Valerij Dvoinikov, the former member of the Bundestag Valdemar Herdt, the general director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies Dragana Trifković from Serbia and the candidate for governor of California Luis Marinelli.
Dragana Trifković, Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies addressed the round table on the following topics:
– prospective of Ukraine in cooperation with the EU
– interference of an external factor in the political processes of sovereign states
During the presentation, Dragana Trifković mentioned:
Since I am from Serbia, I will draw parallels with the similarities that exist.
The EU launched negotiations with Ukraine in 2007 and intensified them after the coup in Kiev in 2014.
The goal of Ukraine’s accession to the EU is prosperity, security, and democracy.
These are the values that the EU declaratively represents.
„The rights and freedoms provided for in the Convention of the Council of Europe shall be ensured without discrimination on any grounds, such as sex, race, color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, affiliation with a national minority, property, birth or other status ”.
However, we see that Ukraine does not respect the basic human rights of the Russian population, such as the right to use their own language. Ukraine has even gone so far as to ban the use of the Russian language by law. The provisions of law on language came into force on January 16, introducing new restrictions and fines for the use of the Russian language and the language of national minorities in the service sector. Prior to this decision, the Russian language was „expelled“ from schools, media, and publishing.
How does the democratic Europe react to discrimination against the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine?
By doing nothing. They simply tacitly support discrimination.
Here, from the very beginning, we come to the dilemma of how the EU advocates the idea of human rights, freedom, and democracy, and at the same time supports human rights violations?
In addition, the EU is committed to Ukraine’s territorial integrity. This is very important to be mentioned.
I will give an opposite example. When it comes to Serbia, the EU does not support territorial integrity, but demands from Serbia to give up the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija, which makes up over 15% of the territory of the state of Serbia.
If we talk about Crimea, which reintegrated Russia, such a case happened after a democratic referendum was held in which 97% of Crimean residents voted to join Russia. However, the EU does not recognize the democratic referendum, i.e., the free will of the inhabitants of Crimea.
On the other hand, no referendum was held in Kosovo. The Albanian minority has declared independence, and most EU countries have recognized the void Kosovo independence document (except Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, and Romania). The EU is now putting strong pressure on five EU countries to recognize Kosovo’s independence. In addition, the condition for Serbia’s entry into the EU is the recognition of Kosovo’s so-called independence. It should also be mentioned here that the Western powers gave great support to the Albanian separatists from Kosovo and Metohija in the separation of the southern Serbian province.
Here we come to the logical question of how in one case the EU supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and in another case it lobbies for the disintegration of Serbia?
Serbia began EU accession talks also after the coup, which was also carried out with the logistical and financial support of Western powers. Serbia signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU in 2007. We have been hearing about political reforms and the rule of law for fourteen years now. During that time, the situation in Serbia worsened to such an extent that we returned to the pre-party era. The political system has been disrupted and institutions have lost their function, including the judiciary. We are faced with incalculable corruption of the entire system.
We see something similar in Ukraine. As in Serbia, there is no separate executive, legislative, and judicial branch. Everything focuses on the personalization of the performance of the function and not on the institutions.
It is an ideal terrain for all types of manipulations, primarily external ones.
At the same time, emotionally agitated national chauvinists are blinded by the ultimate consequences of such a policy. And they are usually totally fatal for the Ukrainians themselves.
Here we come to the key part, that the systematic collapse of state institutions, corruption, and degeneration of society, benefit only external powers that find their own interests in it.
In my opinion, the EU uses Ukraine as an instrument against Russia, and in the last resort, the United States uses both the EU and Ukraine to create a conflict with Russia.
On the other hand, the Kosovo independence project serves to strengthen Western powers in the Balkans and prevent the spread of Russian and Chinese influence.
In the end, back to the human rights – it is necessary to mention that over 250 thousand Serbs were expelled from Kosovo and Metohija, and to this day they have not been allowed to return. In addition, Serbian property was usurped, and violence was committed against the remaining population. I addressed the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Dunja Mijatović, in writing several times, asking the Council of Europe to take steps to prevent violence against the remaining Serb population, but there was no reaction.
Against foreign factor interference
For cooperation with those parties who are willing to do it on the basis of mutual interests.
1. November 2021.
