For Slovenian version, click here.
For pictures&videos from the trip, click here.
As one of the advisers to the EPP in the European Parliament I have been given responsibility for EU-Ukraine relations. Last week I paid my first working visit to the Ukrainian Parliament. I have written a brief report on that visit (attached below).
But first a few personal impressions…

During my first visit to Kyiv I also took two days’ holiday so that I would have the opportunity to stroll around the city and talk to ordinary people. Ukrainians are extremely friendly and hospitable people; uncorrupted and unspoilt.
But I did notice that Ukraine is 15 to 20 years behind Slovenia in terms of economic and political development. At times I felt at home, like back in the days when I was going to school in Nove Jarše in Ljubljana.
Kyiv is a huge city of 2.6 million people living in typical Communist-era estates, in housing blocks like those we have in Nove Jarše or Fužine, except that in Kyiv there are hundreds of them. Ukraine has a population of 43 million, and covers a land area bigger than any EU country.
The average salary of an official in Parliament is only around 70 euros a month, and other people earn much less, so a great number of Ukrainians do extra work on the side in addition to their regular work.

The saddest thing is that as many as a million Ukrainians – mostly young people – try to leave the country every year in search of a better life. Intelligent young men and women will grab at any opportunity to go to the ‘West’, at least for a while. Even in Slovenia the opportunities for young people are a lot poorer that in any West European country, but that difference is slowly but surely diminishing. Ukrainians, though, do not see a bright future; they no longer believe in a European future for their country and they are thoroughly disillusioned with their political leaders. On 17 January 2010 Ukraine will be holding presidential elections, and many people do not know who to vote for.
But one thing that is much clearer among Ukrainians, whatever their religious or political convictions, than it is in Slovenia is their attitude to recent history. It is clear to Ukrainians that Russian Communism recklessly and blatantly destroyed Ukrainian culture and people’s lives, and I did not meet anyone who would want to go back to that..
For my official short report, click here.