22-nation summit in Yalta seeks end to division of Europe (09/19/99)

22-nation summit in Yalta seeks end to division of Europe

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

YALTA - Fifty-four years after the leaders of the victorious Allied Forces of World War II configured the geopolitical map of post-war Europe, which ended with its eastern half artificially isolated from the rest of the continent and dominated by Soviet Russia, Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma hosted a second summit here, attended by 22 European countries, to symbolically close the door on that part of history and express the singleness of Europe.

"It is greatly symbolic that we are gathered here, where our fate was decided for us in 1945. Today we are working to destroy those dividing lines," said Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus at the ceremonial opening of the summit at the lavish Livadia Palace, summer home of the 19th century Russian tsars and the place where U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met at the infamous Yalta Conference more than five decades ago.

Officially called the "International Conference on Baltic-Black Sea Cooperation: Towards an Integrated Europe in the 21st Century Without Dividing Lines," the summit set as its larger goal the further integration of the former Warsaw Pact countries and the new independent states of the former Soviet Union into mainstream European economic and political structures.

The agenda, however, was more specific than that. The subjects of discussion ranged from the continued development of a transportation corridor for oil and gas from the Transcausus region through Ukraine to the Baltic Sea, to the creation of an overall security structure for all of Europe.

A hot topic was how to resolve the practical problems that confront the Baltic-Black Sea countries that have emerged from behind the Iron Curtain but have yet to be included in NATO and have little hope of joining the European Union in the near future. Those issues include visa arrangements, border and customs regulations, and trade agreements. Ukraine's President Kuchma, whose country borders the three newest member-states of NATO, all of which are also strong candidates for membership in the EU, said the potential for a divided Europe remains.

"I must tell you that with the Iron Curtain down there still exists the danger of a far more humane, but no less dangerous, paper curtain being put up between Eastern Europe and Western Europe," said Mr. Kuchma.

Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski also addressed the divisions that still exist on the European continent in his address to the summit. He stated that it is not up to the EU to determine who belongs to Europe and who does not.

'There should be no open or subtle dividing lines in Europe," said Mr. Kwasniewski. He also called on Europe to accept Ukraine into its free trade association after it gains status in the World Trade Organization.

Another key issue was the continued effort by the Baltic and Black Sea neighbors to have gas and oil from the Caspian Sea Basin routed through the Black Sea and Ukraine to Central Europe. Western oil and gas conglomerates are blocking any plans for a new routing, as is the U.S. government, even as Azerbaijan's President Haidar Aliyev, whose country controls many of the recently discovered oil fields, has expressed support for it.

President Aliyev met with President Kuchma to discuss the Ukrainian transport corridor soon after his arrival in Yalta.

The summit participants also addressed ecological issues and communications technologies in the region, as well as problems with illegal migration, drug smuggling and arms trafficking.

Presidents or prime ministers of 14 of the 22 countries attended "Yalta II," as it has been dubbed, while others sent ambassador-level representatives. The participating countries were, for the most part, members of either the Council of Baltic Countries or the Organization of Black Sea Cooperation. They included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden.

Also present were representatives of the foremost European geopolitical structures: the European Union, the European Commission, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and NATO.

The group agreed on two joint statements. One was an expression of sympathy and solidarity with Turkey and Greece, which were recently hit by a series of earthquakes, while the other declared the need for a joint effort and cooperation by all of Europe in resolving the continent's problems in the 21st century. It reaffirmed "the inherent right of all states to choose the means to ensure their own security," while expressing the need to promote beneficial cooperation among the countries; to undertake joint efforts for the resolution and prevention of conflicts; to develop economic cooperation through joint projects in the fields of energy, transport, communications, ecology and other spheres; to deepen cooperation in humanitarian fields; and to combat terrorism

The summit was not without its controversies, one of which involved a statement by the Russian representative to the conference, First Vice Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko, condemning possible future NATO expansion eastward.

"The further expansion of NATO, with regard to the Baltic countries and southeastern Europe, will lead to a new dividing line, and in no way to further security," said Mr. Khristenko at the Livadia Palace during the opening session of the summit.

His remarks seemed to contradict the passage in the joint statement, which Russia signed, on the inherent right of all states to choose the means of their defense. Yet it was fully in line with Russia's continued insistence that NATO expand no further.

Another problem arose when Belarusian President Alyaksander Lukashenka issued a statement in Miensk that Kyiv had withdrawn an invitation to attend the summit under pressure from the European Union, which Mr. Lukashenka said he considered an unfriendly gesture by Belarus's southern neighbor. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains that it never issued such an invitation (see sidebar).

Several presidential candidates in Kyiv criticized the largely ceremonial summit in Yalta, which resulted from a proposal put forward by President Kuchma at a 1997 meeting of Baltic countries in Vilnius, Lithuania, as a pre-election tactic by candidate Kuchma to show Ukrainian voters his foreign policy acumen and the international respect he carries.

Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk downplayed the charges at a press conference in Yalta and said the international gathering of leaders had been planned well before the presidential campaign began.

However, on the main road to Yalta from the Crimean capital city of Symferopol, where the autonomous peninsula's only airport is located, it was clear that somebody had already mixed pre-election politics with international diplomacy. Endorsements for the re-election of the president were spray-painted on most bridges and roadside abutments along the highway that the dignitaries, the guests and members of the press traveled. Other graffiti had been conspicuously painted over, and no other candidate endorsements were evident.

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