PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO OF UKRAINE VISITS U.S.: Addresses joint meeting of Congress (04/10/05)

PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO OF UKRAINE VISITS U.S.

Addresses joint meeting of Congress

by Andrew Nynka

WASHINGTON - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on April 6, offering eight specific points on which the Congress could take action to help his country, including help with integrating Ukraine into European and Euro-Atlantic bodies.

Mr. Yushchenko, who read from a prepared text but also added sections extemporaneously, asked that Congress lower trade and travel barriers to Ukraine and support Ukraine's effort to replace a deteriorating concrete sarcophagus that covers the destroyed nuclear power plant at Chornobyl.

Mr. Yushchenko said Ukraine had done much to open its markets and that, "in return, we expect the United States to cancel the restrictions that apply to Ukrainian goods in the U.S. market."

Members of Congress, several of whom could be seen wearing orange lapel pins, warmly greeted the Ukrainian president as he entered the hall at 11 a.m. They all stood and clapped as chants of "Yushchenko, Yushchenko" began to fill the hall.

Mr. Yushchenko thanked the United States for its support during the Orange Revolution. "We highly appreciate the message sent by your country's leadership before the elections and during the revolution," he said. "It was clear and unambiguous. The U.S. condemned fraud and upheld Ukrainian's right to freely elect their government."

As he entered the congressional hall, President Yushchenko, placing his right hand over his heart in a show of appreciation of the resounding applause that welcomed him, looked visibly touched by the display of support. He proceeded to shake hands as he approached the podium before delivering a 40-minute address to a packed house that was interrupted by applause 26 times - five times with standing ovations.

The first standing ovation came after he introduced his wife, saying that the two met through a program run by the United States. "It was through one of your programs that I met my wife, Kateryna, whose love and commitment gave me the strength to withstand the trials of the last months and years," he said.

One of the most visible signs of those trials has been Mr. Yushchenko's face, which continues to look deeply pockmarked and bloated, though it no longer appears as gray as it did several months ago.

The Ukrainian president continued to stress his country's intention to move toward Europe, while the crowd, composed of a mixture of members of Congress and their guests - several of whom wore embroidered Ukrainian shirts and many in orange ties or scrafs responded very positively to those statements.

"We view accession to the European Union as an opportunity to realize the potential of our country," Mr. Yushchenko said. "For us a European future is a powerful incentive to attain high political, social and economic standards. This incentive has proved its effectiveness in the case of our neighbors. It would be unfair to deprive Ukrainians, who so graciously proved their European identity, of this chance."

Not only did Mr. Yushchenko repeat his intention to move Ukraine into the World Trade Organization, NATO and the European Union, but he also said he would hold responsible the people behind election fraud and the killings of journalists and politicians.

"We wish to discover the truth about all tragedies that have occurred in the past years," he said. "We are building a society rooted in the democratic rule of law. As part of that effort, we are committed to finding and punishing those who have beheaded journalists, murdered politicians, manipulated elections, fostered separatism and covered up these crimes. Our top priority is to ensure the independence of the judiciary."

Throughout his speech Mr. Yushchenko quoted historic giants who he said continue to help guide Ukraine toward fundamental democratic values.

Citing the Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of many, one), and the now famous phrase of the Orange Revolution "Together we are many, and we cannot be defeated," he drew strong parallels between democracy in Ukraine and the United States.

"These two phrases have a great deal in common. They speak to the strength that comes from unity," he said. "They speak of the struggles for freedom of two great peoples, who today are linked by a shared community of democratic values."

Mr. Yushchenko also added references to U.S. President George W. Bush - whom he had met with just two days earlier for a working lunch - former presidents and Winston Churchill, Lech Walesa and Nelson Mandela, as well as the famous Ukrainian poet and national hero Taras Shevchenko.

That Mr. Yushchenko was invited to address the Congress was itself a significant sign of the renewed faith that the United States has put in Ukraine, and specifically in Mr. Yushchenko's government.

Including Mr. Yushchenko, there have been only 97 similar addresses, to joint meetings delivered by foreign leaders and dignitaries in the history of the United States, according to the Clerk's Office at the U.S. House of Representatives. That number extends back to 1824, when the French general and Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette made the first joint meeting address before Congress in 1824.

Foreign leaders and dignitaries have historically addressed Congress via three methods. They include joint meetings, joint sessions and separate House and Senate receptions.

Joint meetings, the preferred method for receiving addresses from foreign leaders and dignitaries, are used for special commemorative events and to receive addresses by domestic dignitaries, according to the Clerk's Office.

Members of Congress comment on Ukrainian president's speech

FOR THE RECORD: Yushchenko's address to joint meeting of Congress

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