Will Europe Make A Mistake?

by Sviatoslav Karavansky

The Ukraine-EU summit, where the joining of Ukraine to the Free Trade Zone agreement will be decided, will be happening very soon.  Such a joining without some preconditions from the side of Europe would be a big economical and political mistake.

PART ONE

Economical Practice The Еuropean Union May Borrow From The Donetsk Mafia

A short history of the Donetsk Mafia
The Donetsk Mafia and its partners from other regions, who are ruling Ukraine today, have a very interesting history behind their economical boom. The main factor of their success is the physical removal of competitors and seizure of competitors’ successful enterprises by a series of criminal actions such as blackmailing, direct intimidation and resorting to the subordinated to the Mafia courts. Most thriving Donetsk companies achieved their success by such means. The owners of these thriving companies are now the rulers of Ukraine.
And what do we see? What economical policy does Mafia subscribe to?

Why does President Yanukovych so desperately need foreign investments and loans from the WMF?
The managers of some state services appointed by the President, who should be replenishing the state budget, are caring not for budget, but for their personal enrichment. The mentality of these people is fully criminal. Some of them received high government posts for the fulfilling criminal assignments of their bosses. The trial of the journalist’s Gongadze killer, general Pukach, shows the relations among high state persons and their subordinates, who did fulfill the criminal orders. This trial came to existence thanks to the bold actions of the President’s Kuchma guard, Mykola Melnychenko, who caught on film the conversations of states criminals. It happens in Kiev, but the Donetsk region had no Melnychenkos and the Cain’s deeds of the Donetsk Mafia were not disclosed. Donetsk generals Pukaches occupy high state posts today. Their bosses became very rich, but they remained “average citizens.”  So, after occupying their posts, these persons know one thing: to grab everything what is possible. An example? Please:
During the 2009 year, the Lviv Custom-house transferred goods from Poland to Ukraine to a total value of $400 millions. During the 2010 year – only $3 millions. Goods, by total value of about $400 mil., were smuggled without any toll to budget, but into the pockets of custom officers, appointed by Mafia. More than 50 officers were dismissed, but nobody was arrested. It’s a matter of give and take.
Such robbery of the state is going at all branches of economy. The new hosts of Ukraine, starting from the President, are constantly increasing their personal properties.
It is hard to replenish budget with such a command. Therefore President looks for the foreign investments. Let the foreign “fat cats” patch the holes in the budget by investing into Ukrainian economy.

And what about Mafias multimillionaires, who “earned” their billions in Ukraine?
Why not to use these billions to develop Ukraine? Why the President didn’t call domestic “fat cats” to do so? It looks, that here we have some double-dealing. Domestic “fat cats” prefer to invest their millions abroad.
Isn’t this strange?
I am not an economist, but it looks to me, that such economical policy is not effective. But maybe, I am wrong, and such a practice would be useful for the Europeans.

The economy with favorites and outcasts.
From the beginning of the governing, the Mafia started to persecute businessmen who did not support Mafia, but support opposition. The first tax law, vetoed by President after mass protests, was frankly directed to restrain the development of small businesses that were mostly in hands of supporters of the Orange Revolution
The malevolent attitude of the state to the businesses of the political opponents cannot be a stimulus for the thriving economy, because existing in the state some business favorites and some business outcasts cannot favor the economical success of the nation.
Criminally oriented business favorites resorts to the unlawful actions towards theirs competitors that did not receive proper qualification from the state authorities. Precedents are thousands. One of them is below.
A son of the MP from the Party of Regions Volodymyr Demishkan – Serhij Demishkan started to do commercial activity with the owner of the airplane company “Krunk” Vasyl Kryvozub. S. Demishkan rented airplanes from Kryvozub for transportation of freights. But S. Domishkan didn’t pay for the rent what resulted in a conflict. At November 19, 2007, S. Demishkan and two his friends kidnapped the 62-years old Kryvozub from his home and brought him to the private house, bound him by the handcuffs to the bed and compelled to telephone to his daughter that he won’t come home this night. The kidnappers demanded from Kryvozub to present the rented aircraft to S. Demishkan. But Kryvozub managed to tell his daughter that he was kidnapped. After that, the criminals threw the bound Kryvozub from the bridge into the lake. After witnessing of Kryvozub daughter, all three killers were arrested. All of them confessed. The preliminary trial, that took place during Yanukovych presidency, released S. Drmishkan, under a written pledge not to leave the town.
The example deserves to be popularized in Europe.

The perspective of the economic cooperation of the EU with the Donetsk Mafia.
The rulers of the EU do not have full understanding about the criminal nature of the Yanukovych administration. In case Ukraine joined the EU as an associative member, the members of the EU are not ready to the criminal scenarios of the lawbreakers from the Party of Regions. What kind of scenarios it may be, one may only guess from the fact that Mafia’s nouveau riches, “earned” their billions neither by work nor by talent, but by criminal seizure of businesses of honest people and physical removal them from the field of competition. Accustomed to such “rules of game” persons would act accordingly in the future.
Now in Ukraine, for instance, the removal of competitors is done by fabricating spurious cases against competitors, and by the way of terror against honest journalists, who reveal the criminal actions of Mafia’s businessmen and high officials.
The murder of the journalist Klimentiyev that was taken by President Yanukovych under personal control was not disclosed. During the investigation, no arrests were made, as it was practiced after demolishing of a bust of Stalin. There is no doubt, that some  of today’s officials are connected to this murder. This is a proof that during this presidency this crime won’t be revealed.
Because the Europe has no experience dealing with this kind of Mafia regime of Yanukovych, the EU should raise some preconditions to the government and President of Ukraine, before granting associative membership to Ukraine.
These preconditions will be disclosed in the PART TWO of this article.

Source: maidan.org.ua