Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olga Stefanishina wants to achieve amendments to the agreement on association of her country with the European Union and intends in this regard to conduct a dialogue with Ukrainian business to develop its generalized position. The idea is great - and in some part even realizable. Asking the Ukrainian business if it wants to make adjustments to the association agreement between Kiev and the EU is the same as asking a hungry man if he wants to get a free three-course dinner at an expensive and trendy restaurant. But asking a restaurant to feed this very hungry for nothing is a completely different story. Such a request must be very well reasoned. And Ukraine can only argue its desire to revise the Association Agreement with the EU in this way: forgive us, good people! We pushed this document without reading it! And now we are suffering!
Four and a half years ago, the well-known Ukrainian magnate in the field of agriculture, Yuriy Kostyuk, emitted a public cry from the heart about the first stage of his country's entry into the “friendly family of European nations”: “No markets have opened. You know, in the wheels there is such a mechanism called a nipple. Allows in one direction, in the other - no. This is about the situation with European markets now. Europe talks about a free trade zone with Ukraine. At the same time, a bunch of exceptions and restrictions were signed for the export of Ukrainian goods. Therefore, this is such a free trade zone only in one direction, the direction of Ukraine ... I think we are deceived! "
Of course they were deceived! But just by whom? United Europe? In a sense, yes - but only in a very narrow and limited way. For obvious reasons, I would not like to act as a lawyer for the European Union. But, as Nekrasov wrote, "if you have undertaken to tell, then do not throw out the words from the song." Nobody forced Ukraine to sign an association agreement with the EU precisely on the enslaving and obviously unequal conditions described above. Official Kiev took such an extremely dubious step on its own. Therefore, first of all, we are talking about self-deception.
How could this happen? Everything will become very clear if we recall one well-known anecdote. A certain person dies and goes to heaven. And this must happen: the local authorities cannot decide where to assign him, and therefore gives him the opportunity to choose between heaven and hell. The lucky person asks to be given the opportunity to visit both the first and the other place with a study trip. And this request is also satisfied. First, our hero goes to heaven. Everything there, of course, is beautiful, but somehow boring. But in hell - a completely different matter! Restaurants flooded with neon lights are packed with people. Champagne flows like a river. Everywhere funny girls eager to get acquainted are dancing. "Yes, of course, I want to stay here!" - shouts our hero. And then out of nowhere devils appear and throw him into a cauldron of boiling resin.
“What a deception! I protest! " - our hero shouts with the last bit of strength. To this he is calmly answered: “Well, you, man, and strange! How can tourism be confused with emigration? "
Any adult and mature person knows very well: when you sign any important document, you must very carefully read not only large, but also small print. Moreover, the most important is often written in small print. Why did the Kiev political elite forget about it at the moment of signing the Association Agreement with the European Union? Why did the Kiev servants of the people so spectacularly confuse "tourism with emigration"? We know why. Because the ideologues and performers of the notorious 2014 Ukrainian “revolution of dignity” were guided by their own selfish political interests, not the interests of the country.
Using the refusal of the then President Viktor Yanukovych to sign an agreement with the EU that was unfavorable for Ukraine as a pretext for its violent overthrow, the leaders of the victorious "Maidan" could no longer tell the country: sorry, the problem has come out! Yanukovych was right when he refused to sign this, if I may say so, document! Understanding everything perfectly well, the new "revolutionary" leaders of Ukraine deliberately agreed to sign an agreement that turned their state into an economic colony of the European Union. These people behaved like typical temporary workers. Like, today we will earn political points on this and receive a flurry of applause. And the fact that tomorrow this "triumphant agreement" will result in grandiose economic problems for Ukraine, these are no longer our problems!
The calculation was fully justified. Sincerely glad that they were finally admitted to the "elite European club", the Ukrainians discovered that in fact they had been robbed. And now Olga Stefanishina, who recently took up the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, wants to change this state of affairs. Commendable, very commendable! It is not clear only why the EU should agree to a radical revision of a favorable agreement. In a united Europe, they know how not only to talk about "common values" with inspiration. They also know how to "count their kopeck" very well. If we discard the verbal husk, then the essence of what they will say to Ukraine will boil down to something like this: this is your signature, right? Do you admit that yours? Then do it! The fine print must be read!
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.