Romania to review previously agreed upon treaty with Ukraine (03/16/97)

Romania to review previously agreed upon treaty with Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Less than two weeks after Romania and Ukraine agreed in principle to a treaty on friendship and cooperation, part of which entailed the settlement of a long-standing territorial dispute, Romania has backed down.

On March 11 Romania's Ambassador to Ukraine Ion Bestreanu officially informed Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs that his government would like to review elements of the proposed treaty.

In a press release issued on March 11, the Romanian Embassy stated that the agreement has only been agreed to by experts and that further discussions are required at the highest political levels of both foreign ministries to reach an "optimal level of agreement."

Ambassador Bestreanu, speaking with Interfax-Ukraine a day later, said all that is needed is to "balance the wording on some of the issues discussed." He explained: "We wish to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's of our four-year preparation of the agreement so as to lay the groundwork for the development of good neighborly relations between Ukraine and Romania."

Mr. Bestreanu's words were a diplomatic flip-flop from what he had stated after the completion of the talks in late February. At that time he said the two provisions were yet to be settled, but that would occur "through diplomatic channels" without the need for another meeting.

Volodymyr Yatsenkivski, director of the press office of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing his disappointment with the two-steps-forward, one-step-back approach that the Romanians were taking, said the two delegations had resolved all the major points of disagreement and that only minor details were to be worked out and the agreement written up.

Volodymyr Ohrysko, foreign policy advisor to President Leonid Kuchma, speaking at a press briefing called the Romanian move "an alarming and dangerous signal." Expressing his frustration with Romanian's backtracking, he said, for all that Romanian officials are saying, in essence their decision has "brought the negotiating process between Romania and Ukraine back to its starting point." He also questioned Romania's sincerity in seeking a comprehensive treaty with Ukraine.

At the February 25-28 meetings in Kyiv, the two sides, led by Ukraine's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Anton Buteiko and State Secretary of Romania's Foreign Ministry Dumitru Ceausu, seemed finally to have resolved differences over territorial boundaries that had been the major obstacle to a treaty. The sticking point has been Romanian claims on a portion of Ukraine's southwestern lands, which Bucharest claims as historically part of Romania. Ukraine has refused to negotiate the ownership, stating that Ukraine's boundaries are internationally recognized and that negotiations would set a bad precedent.

After Romania's President Emil Constantinescu stated that his country holds no claims on Ukrainian territory and is ready to honor the present-day borders, Romania agreed to the border as currently demarcated at the latest talks in return for Ukraine's acknowledgment of the rights of the Romanian minority on the disputed lands

But there are other territorial disputes that were not discussed at the negotiations that also have caused friction between the two sides. President Constantinescu was not ready to give those away. He said that ownership of Serpent Island off the coast of Romania and the continental shelf that runs off the common border of the two countries should be decided by "either our experts or with the participation of international organizations specializing in the application of international law."

Although Ukraine and Romania cite historic claims as their right to those areas, the real claim is to the oil that many experts believe lies in the sea floor below.

This is the second time in nine meetings that Romania has failed to follow through after both sides had seemingly agreed in principle, with only the wording left to be decided. In July 1995 Romania and Ukraine also were ready to sign a treaty when it was repudiated by Romania at what would have been the final round of talks in Bucharest. However, Romania's backsliding, although it may show bad faith, does not break with any established international norms of conduct or law.

But there are those in Ukraine, as is the case with Mr. Ohrysko, who are questioning the sincerity of Romania's intentions: does it want to finally resolve the territorial disputes that have overshadowed relations between Romania and Ukraine, or is Romania merely going through the motions to fulfill a prerequisite for joining NATO, which states that a country must have no territorial claims on another?

Ambassador Bestreanu denies that Romania is playing up to NATO. "It would be wrong to believe that Romania's preparedness for early signing of the agreement is motivated by other external factors, specifically by its wish to join NATO."

That may well be true, but the fact remains that the announcement by President Constantinescu that Ukraine has the right to the disputed land came as Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, a supporter of Romania's entry into NATO, left Bucharest after an official visit and then traveled to Kyiv for discussions with Ukrainian government officials regarding NATO and Ukrainian-Italian relations.

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