Stavanger, 11 October 2015 – Ukraine is at a critical juncture and NATO
must boost political and economic support to its government and keep pressuring
Russia to respect the Minsk peace accords, parliamentarians from NATO nations
warned on Sunday.
The challenges facing Ukraine “would be a very tall order even in peacetime. It is all the more daunting at a moment of grave insecurity,” Richard Benyon, from the United Kingdom, told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Economics and Security Committee. Some 6,800 people have been killed and 1.4 million driven from their homes due to the conflict between Russian-backed separatists and government forces since April 2014. Ukraine’s economy also continues to decline, with its GDP expected to fall by 10 percent this year.
The challenges facing Ukraine “would be a very tall order even in peacetime. It is all the more daunting at a moment of grave insecurity,” Richard Benyon, from the United Kingdom, told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Economics and Security Committee. Some 6,800 people have been killed and 1.4 million driven from their homes due to the conflict between Russian-backed separatists and government forces since April 2014. Ukraine’s economy also continues to decline, with its GDP expected to fall by 10 percent this year.
In a draft resolution likely to be adopted by the Assembly on Monday, the
deputies urge governments “to redouble efforts to help Ukraine at this critical
juncture by increasing diplomatic, political, financial, economic, material and
expert assistance.”
French Senator Joelle Garriaud-Maylam, the resolution’s author, also said
“it’s possible that the right application of political leverage can persuade
Russia and the separatists to seek genuine reconciliation with the Ukrainian
authorities.”
“There is no military solution to this conflict. Diplomacy must be given a
chance,” she told the Assembly’s Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security.
On the economy, Tor Bukkvoll, from the Norwegian Defence Research
Establishment, said that this year “Ukraine will probably hit rock bottom.
Then it’s a question of whether it’s going to stay there.”
He warned that the pace of reforms is still going too slow, with oligarchs
and Ukraine’s bloated bureaucracy putting the brakes on efforts.
“It’s going to take a long time. The anti-reform forces are very strong,”
Bukkvoll told the Economics and Security Committee. He also warned that a new
popular uprising cannot be ruled out: “The current political elite must know
this could happen. They fear it, I think.”
Benyon also cautioned that the considerable international financial aid
offered to Ukraine still might not be enough. “We may need to come up with more
help to get Ukraine on a long-term path of growth and stability,” he said.
In any case, he
said, Ukraine “has no choice but to advance this reform process despite the
prevailing crisis conditions.”
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