FOR THE RECORD: President Kuchma's inauguration address (12/12/99)

FOR THE RECORD: President Kuchma's inauguration address

Published below is the full text of President Leonid Kuchma's inauguration address, delivered on November 30 at the Ukraina Palace of Culture. The English-language text was released in Washington by the Embassy of Ukraine.

PART I

Fellow countrymen,
Honored foreign guests,

Ukraine, together with all humankind, is nearing the epochal threshold, behind which lies the 21st century and the third millennium.

On the eve of this chronological milestone we are crossing an important and historic Rubicon.

It is within this context that we must view and assess the expression of will of the Ukrainian people during the recent presidential elections.

They chose the future and received guarantees.

Guarantees of a clear, foreseeable and dignified future that will be created not by the blind interplay of untamed forces and processes, not by the will of one person or party, but rather by all people, by our common intellect and our hands.

Therefore, today is not a day of my personal triumph, or personal victory but a day of triumph and victory of the entire Ukrainian community, and, if anything, that of all of Europe, as well.

The act of inaugurating a president of Ukraine is the crowning touch on the list of momentous events in the history of Ukraine in the 20th century.

The beautiful and cruel epoch that was marked by high elevations of human spirit and mind as well as endless plunges into the chasm of barbarity, is passing away. It brought unforeseeable tribulations, but at the same time, brought about the unforgotten, long-yearned for by generations rebirth of the Ukrainian statehood.

This epoch raised Ukraine from the status of one of the Soviet republics to a fully independent existence, to international recognition and to the height of European and global politics.

Today, on the eve of a new century and a new millennium, we can justly say: we are an enduring, freedom-loving and strong people.

We are a people that managed to withstand and preserve itself amidst the ferocious heat of revolutions, two devastating world wars, civil strife, merciless famines and repressions. We are a people, who took upon itself the blow from Chornobyl and shielded humankind from the global catastrophe.

We are a people that have come to see itself as one whole.

These elections have for the first time not brought about any ideological split either along the Zbruch River, or the Dnipro River, or the Perekope Isthmus (Crimea), or any other line. It has not caused any unyielding estrangement of different regions of Ukraine from one another based on their political sympathies or preferences.

In fact, November 14 became the second All-Ukrainian referendum that testified to the fact that our society would not venture aside, it would never change the course it had chosen eight years ago on December 1, 1991.

I sincerely thank all the Ukrainian people for their active involvement and for their patriotic approach to the elections, as well as for their understanding and support of the incumbent president.

I have been honest before God and the people, being sincere and open about the uneasy realities of our life. I did not promise and could not promise sweet illusions, instant resolution of all problems that were piling up for many decades.

I believe that the fact that you, my countrymen, have made this choice stands as proof to the result of your wisdom, political maturity, psychological change and irreversibility of your orientation on democratic and market transformation.

I would like to thank internal and international observers, journalists and all others, who facilitated free and democratic expression of will by the Ukrainian people.

My sincere thanks to all my supporters, who worked selflessly during the electoral campaign and exerted their efforts in organizational work and propaganda.

I am deeply thankful to the heads of state and government, politicians and public activists, to my countrymen and foreign citizens, who congratulated me with the election. This is just one more proof that the presidential elections took place in a democratic and civilized fashion.

I send my grateful words to fellow countrymen abroad - the Ukrainian diaspora - who, in this critical time of people's choice, were supportive of their historic motherland.

Certainly, we have not yet achieved all recognized standards of democracy. However, nobody can deny that our state and society move forcefully along the way that took other countries decades, if not ages, to complete.

I attest my understanding of the positions of all citizens regardless of what it is. And this is yet another expression and proof of the democratic development of Ukraine.

The discontent of the people with their life, with the pace of economic transformations is natural and understandable. I take it as a strong signal to all the branches of power. It prompts me, all of us, to adequate decisions and actions. The following principal conclusions are obvious today.

First, Ukraine will never reject its independence and will not return to the previous political and economic system.

Second, having placed a full stop after our past, we, nevertheless, do not discard any of its pages. Nor do we renounce our own history. Historical memory and understanding of who we are and where we came from will help to strengthen the state and glue the nation. Without such awareness, the younger generation will have difficulties building and leading into the future the country, which possesses every prerequisite to occupy a pertinent place in the European and global community.

The young generation voted precisely for this at the elections. Without such an understanding we would weaken the connection between generations, would lose the support of elder people, who fought for Ukraine, built up its might and glory. I am confident that building on this we will find common language and ensure dynamic movement in the future. I believe that it is necessary for me, particularly as the president of the Ukrainian nation, to stress this. I believe that more than anything else we need to preserve and augment the resources of stability, harmony and understanding, as well as to sustain a conducive political climate.

The energy of the first push, which helped us move ahead, painfully overcoming ourselves and inevitable and real difficulties, is receding. It needs to be recharged. Such impulses can be generated by the sense of community among the people, united around the common national idea. I consider this as a necessary precondition for resolving my defining and fundamental task - to improve the welfare and life of the people. I place first the human, social dimension, which until now has been overlooked for different reasons, but first and foremost, in the interests of strengthening the structure of the state. It is from this angle that I will be considering my every decision and action, as well as everything that is done in the state and society.

My efforts will be concentrated on simultaneous resolution of urgent as well as potential problems. I intend to put forward the principles of economic and social policies for the years 2000 through 2004 in my annual message to the Ukrainian people, which I will deliver before the Verkhovna Rada. In view of that, I will concentrate only on key points.

In the economy, we will accelerate the resolution of imperative fundamental tasks of the transitional period. These are to amass and utilize the potential for economic growth, to accumulate critical mass in market transformations, further development of economic relations on a sustainable market basis. Radical steps will be taken to reform the budgetary and fiscal systems, to resolve the land issue as a basis for agricultural reform, to develop and protect entrepreneurship, to strengthen positions of the national capital, to support the domestic producer and establish an internal market. Combined with other large-scale measures, such as further liberalization and deregulation of economic relations, it will enable us to accomplish in general the reconstruction of the Ukrainian economy according to the market principles.

At the same time, this will provide the basis for the real and strong social policies. They include the following major components; change in the policy concerning revenues so that it favors the interest of people and features increasing salary growth rate; urgent pension reform; reconstruction of the system of medical care; effective policies on employment; practical and addressed support of the needy and less protected segments of the population.

In providing conditions for developing the potential of all our citizens, we have to pay special attention to the youth and the elderly. That is to say, those who are either about to start their active career, or have retired.

I believe that stimulating people's interest in private property should be one of the principal elements of the government's social policy. Generally speaking, I plan to shift government and public activity toward economic and social dimensions. A consolidated work in this most difficult and decisive direction should become the foundation for the unwritten public contract. I repeat, consolidated effort, with common responsibility, between the government and Parliament.

I particularly stress this because the social-economic situation determines not only people's living standards - our national security depends on the way in which we resolve our internal problems.

In addition to other things, I refer to energy and ecological security; all that is related to Ukraine's role as a transit country, as well as issues of military-economic security and all components of state defense capabilities.

We will optimize the composition of, and numbers in, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, increase effectiveness of decision-making with regard to the use of defensive potential that would be adequate to the international situation. Among the urgent tasks is improving the system of common and comprehensive planning of defensive measures, as well as developing the mechanism of civil control over the activities of the military. Building on what has already been achieved in this area, we will continue to increase the public prestige of the military profession, and we will take better care of people serving in the Armed Forces.

In the context of strengthening national security, I place particular emphasis on the fight against corruption and crime. Although no country, or society has managed to avoid this evil, the core questions are: "What is the scale of this evil, and how to cope with it?" In our country, corruption and crime originate from a weak state, an incomplete economic system, oversights by law enforcement, the judiciary and other bodies, as well as from incomplete and imperfect legislation. Last, but not least, they come from our legacy - the rudiments of the administrative-command system. Respectively, we will place emphasis on applying and combining two major approaches in our battle against corruption and crime - administrative, coercive and economic - as well as on decisive clean-up of the state structures. A state official must serve the state and its interest.

And we will accomplish this.

CONCLUSION

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