Third Sector — A Path to the EU?

How can we help the Ukrainians understand what the EU is all about and explain to the Europeans what Ukraine is? This was one of the key issues addressed at the conference, Cooperation of Polish and Ukrainian NGOs after EU Enlargement, organized in Kyiv by the Polish Embassy in Ukraine. Representatives of the Polish third sector have significant experience in promoting Euro-Atlantic cooperation and representing Poland in the EU and NATO. “The answer to the question as to which side of the border we will find ourselves on after EU enlargement lies in dedicated efforts aimed at raising the level of our education and professionalism and building a democratic society,” Jerzy Reit of the Eastern Studies Institute, a Warsaw-based foundation, said, addressing the conference.

A major role in building a civil society belongs precisely to non-governmental organizations. While government structures should serve as a reinforced concrete framework of a stable democratic society, the third sector organizations are to become its brickwork, believes Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Ihor Kharchenko. The diplomats of the two countries have long understood that various levels of diplomacy should be considered. Thus, special councils for cooperation with NGOs have been attached to both ministries. The Polish council participated in mapping out Warsaw’s Eastern policy. The Polish-American-Ukrainian Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI) also works intensively, as part of which cooperation between over 320 Ukrainian and Polish NGOs was established in the past few years. The possibility to involve American and West European partners in the projects is yet another argument in favor of cooperation with Polish public organizations. That the partnership will continue is evidenced by the fact that between 40 and 50% foreign students who win scholarships at Polish universities are Ukrainians, believes Mr. Kharchenko.

Judging from the speeches of conference participants, there are a great many areas in which the Ukrainian and Polish third sectors can cooperate: from joint efforts to revive Ukraine’s Hutsul breed of horses to reforming the coal sector. Among the priority fields of cooperation are also legal counseling provided to Ukrainians working in Poland, using Polish experience in ensuring public control of the authorities, trade union activities and, certainly, informing Ukrainians about the European processes, realities, and standards. According to Jan Fedirka, representative of the Lublin-based Novy Stav Foundation, Lutsk Mayor promised to support the creation of a EU information center in this city.

It is noteworthy that the Polish participants stressed the need to hold more joint activities such as trainings and seminars in Ukraine. “This will help the Poles understand Ukraine better and promote an exchange of experience,” Mr. Fedirko is convinced. “While in the years leading up to independence and in the early years of independence the very fact of cooperation between Ukrainian and Polish NGOs was important, today the major goal is solving specific problems,” Ihor Dobko of the Tovarystvo Leva [Lion Society] said. The Ukrainian participants understand that they have to confine their efforts to reforms, support their colleagues from other NGOs, and consolidate Ukraine and not divide it into Western and Eastern. Only then the third sector along with the first and second ones will create decent living standards promote Ukraine’s progress on its way to Europe.