| Ukrainians easily turned into Europeans Thousands of bright balloons with European symbols soared into the air, accompanied by the chords of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and the Ukrainian anthem, as the opening ceremony of Europe Day began on Saturday in Kyiv’s European Square. In fact, the Europeans themselves celebrated it on May 9, but since it coincided with Victory Day, in Ukraine Leonid Kuchma moved the holiday to the third Saturday of May. “We want to bring Europe to the streets of Kyiv,” supported the president, Norbert Justin, head of the European Commission’s representative office in Ukraine. Europe Day has been celebrated since 1950 on the initiative of French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, who declared the ideas of unification at the height of the Cold War.
On the 100-meter stretch between Independence Square and European Square (formerly named after Stalin), Ukrainians “joined” European values. The town of 17 tents represented the EU in miniature. Kievans wandered from one tent to another, talked with diplomats and tasted national dishes accompanied by national music. Bavarian and Dutch beers received especially praise.
The opening ceremony was attended by ambassadors of all EU countries and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. On the evening of May 17, Leonid Kuchma addressed the people, ordering them to “think critically,” behave “relaxed,” and also consider Europe Day “a holiday, since we are all Europeans.” Ukraine, which hesitates in choosing between the West and the East, “joined” Europe Day at the suggestion of the European Commission. “Ukraine’s European choice does not mean that we are turning away from a strategic partnership with the Russian Federation,” President Kuchma emphasized in his speech.
Ukrainians again agree to speak Russian. The seven-year struggle over the European Charter for Regional Languages, signed by Ukraine in 1996, ended last Friday with the ratification of the document in the Rada. Despite the desperate resistance of the national democrats, Russian was included among the 13 languages protected by the charter in Ukraine (these are Belarusian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Greek, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Moldavian, German, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Hungarian). The long-term conflict around the document was caused by fears that the rights of the Ukrainian language would be infringed. The opposition believes that ratification of the charter is one of the signs of the approaching 2004 presidential campaign. Trying to enlist the support of Russia, government candidates are playing on the “language” issue. In particular, the ratification of the charter was accelerated at the suggestion of the head of the presidential administration, Medvedchuk. However, Speaker Lytvyn tried to outplay him, immediately giving the green light to promote the document in the Rada. Svetlana STEPANENKO, Kyiv |
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