PERSON
Europe. For instance,well-knownUkrainianauthor
IvanFrankograduated fromViennaUniversity in
1893, andahundred years later,memorial plaque
waspostedon theuniversitywall tohonor him.
Thiswas the firstUkrainianpublic figure, politician,
philosopher andwriter that deservedamemorial
plaqueatViennaUniversity.
–What isyourviewofUkraine’s future
inEurope?What canyousayasaEuropean?
IsUkraineapartneron thebasisofparityor
justan industrialannex?
– I amapragmatic, a surgeon– I beginmy
surgeries and I complete them. I justwant togive
you threeexamples. I amnot going to speak for
theentireEU, but only for Austria, since I livehere.
Half a year ago, AustrianBurgenlandBank
was offered for sale. Thereweremany interested
parties there, including a certainUkrainian
consortium. At the time, Austrianmassmedia
providedextensive coverageof this event.
Eventually, Ukrainian consortiumwon the tender.
Why? Because theyprepared for the tender in a
veryprofessionalmanner. Notwithstanding this,
thebankwas eventually sold to anAustrian con-
sortium that occupied secondplace in the ten-
der. Austrianpress criticized fiercely the actions
of local authorities, inparticular, theHeadof the
CountyCouncil on the territoryofwhich the
tenderwas held. This is a fact! This is how serious
and influential Austrianmediawrite theprofes-
sionalismof Ukrainianbusinessmen, bankers and
companies that arenot outsiders in Europe.
Here ismy secondexamplewith regard to
Ukraine’s future inEurope.The fact that Iwas
appointedasadvisor inoneof theEuropean
Commissioncommitteeswasnot acoincidence.
Government level officials knowaboutour coop-
erationwithUkraine thatbegan16yearsago. For
instance, AustriancompanyFischerhasworked in
Ukraine for yearsand the skis itmakesaremanufac-
tured inUkraineandnot inAustria.This isaproof
of trust toUkrainianworkforce. Anotherdirection is
theAustrianbanks (Reiffeisenbank, ErsteSparkasse)
that arealsopresent inUkraine.Thenagain,
Austrianpresswritesa lot aboutUkraine–Austria
relationships. Clearly, thereare somenegative
issuesbutbothnegativeandpositive issuescould
be found inany typeofwork.However, it isvery
important that today thiswork isperformedon the
government, businessandacademic levels.
Austria, just as the EU ingeneral, views
Ukraine as their goodneighbor. Therefore, there
is anActions Plan (Aktionsplan)with regard to
Ukraine, where all cooperationprograms are
detailed. I would like to reemphasize that the
EU is looking forward tohavinggoodpragmatic
relationswith its neighbor. It is Europeanprag-
matism thatwe are talking about.
Emotions are left behind, in 1990, when
we first came toUkrainewherewe hadno
friends or acquaintances. However, at this time,
AUSTRIA, JUSTASTHE
EU INGENERAL,VIEWS
UKRAINEASTHEIRGOOD
NEIGHBOR. THEREFORE,
THERE ISANACTIONSPLAN
(AKTIONSPLAN)WITHREGARD
TOUKRAINE,WHEREALL
COOPERATIONPROGRAMS
AREDETAILED. IWOULD LIKE
TOREEMPHASIZETHATTHE
EU IS LOOKINGFORWARDTO
HAVINGGOODPRAGMATIC
RELATIONSWITH ITS
NEIGHBOR. IT ISEUROPEAN
PRAGMATISMTHATWEARE
TALKINGABOUT
73
ÍÅÄÂÈÆÈÌÎÑÒÜ, ÁÈÇÍÅÑ, ÈÍÂÅÑÒÈÖÈÈ
by
RUSSIAN EMIRATES
UKRAINE -UAE
