Interviews and articles
New Europe is being created in Yalta
(c) Translated from French. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
Every year the Ukrainian resort town meets the outstanding personalities from all over the world to discuss the global future of the planet in general and European future in particular.
Time stood still around Livadia Palace - the spectacular Renaissance travertine construction, built on Yalta hills by the Black Sea. The French style garden, an incredible photograph collection of tsar Nikolai II, a huge round table, at which Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill were holding negotiations as for new division of Europe in February, 1945. Everything in this Museum Palace speaks of the past. Except for a detail: some old photographs have been removed from one of the hall walls to give place to the massive painting depicting the protagonists of this historic event. The state leaders are sitting slightly baffled, looking at the fourth person - the unflappable Mao Tse Tung.
Ukrainian Oligarch's Idea
This is a paraphrase of the legendary picture showing the central figures of Yalta Agreement, a metaphor for the new world arrangement. This is the work of a young Chinese painter Shi Sin-Yin, the recent purchase of Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk that cost him several hundred thousand dollars.
The 47-year old billionaire is the organizer for YES - the annual conference, held in the middle of July in Livadia Palace since 2004. This is an effective lobbying event that has also contributed to a successful EU-Ukraine Summit, held on September, 9 in Evian. Yalta is a symbol, a place from which Europe was divided in the past century. From his point, Pinchuk has the ambitions of his own: introducing a new European model and extending European borders to the East, surely making Ukraine a part of it. As well as Georgia, for its Pro-American oriented President, Mikheil Saakashvili, has been among the honorary guests of the event some two weeks before the start of the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia. Even before the conflict, Livadia Palace witnessed the speeches to blame Russia. In the previous year the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, now working as an advisor to Russian Gasprom, got some sort of wigging from the other participants. This year the number of Russian participants has been reduced to a minimum.
Therefore, the representatives of Western Europe increased their participation. In the previous year the assertive billionaire managed to persuade Bill Clinton to come to Crimea; the financial side of the visit is being kept in secret and is not included into the event's budget, approximately amounting to 1,3 million Euros.
Looking at the famous politicians and economists, taking part in the event, it may be compared with mini-Davos: the participant list includes Karl Rove, former advisor to George Bush; Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Georgia; Alexander Kwasniewski, former President of Poland.
Victor Pinchuk has made everything possible to invite Nicolas Sarkozy. Unfortunately, the time schedule of President of France had been extremely busy in the middle of July. Therefore Victor, as his advisors call him, had received a letter from the President of France, expressing support to Ukrainian integration processes; the letter was read by Pier Lelouch, the member of French Parliament. It is a strong support for Pinchuk and his lobbyists' team, striving to boost their activity. They are indeed insuperable in terms of attracting the well-known "ex's": for instance, this year's conference has been concluded by the speech of Tony Blair. Giving reply to a Reuters journalist, who simply bombarded him with questions after his 1 hour speech, the former host of Dawning Street, 10, told the following: "There is no need for you to write the article. I nearly said nothing". After that he made an effective and professional appearance before the participants during the evening cocktail party.
Strengthening the participant list with the acting politicians
The organizers strive to attract the acting politicians so that they communicate their important messages within the Conference. After his failure with bringing Sarkozy, the Ukrainian billionaire managed to "intercept" Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Head of International Monetary Fund, just after his taking part in G8 meeting. He made a forecast as for a strong market depression: "The period of financial crises has passed away; now we have to face the economic consequences". Dominique Strauss-Kahn knows the Conference place very well. "He took part in the very first seminar in 2004. It is when he delivered his analysis as for the European future to Romano Prodi, occupying the position of the Head of European Commission by that time", sais Gilles Finchelstein, Research Director for EURO RSCG Worldwide. This is a very close person to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, one of Conference creative leaders. He has also been the participant of the first seminar. By that time it was attended by approximately twenty persons, having discussions concerning the new European borders. With the course of time, a group of French experts, consisting of Guy Carcassonne, Olivier Duhamel and Alain Bauer, was created.
The idea of holding YES appeared in 2004. By that period Victor Pinchuk, a Member of Parliament, having made his business in steel pipe production, and also the son-in-law of the Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma, could not make himself quite comfortable; although, the same was felt by the rest of oligarchs. A few months before the Orange Revolution, supported by Europe and USA, Ukraine faced the wave of public protests against corruption, Moscow influence, as well as wealth, concentrated in the hands of just few people... Victor was at the first firing line. According to Forbes magazine estimation, his fortune (the second largest in Ukraine) amounts to 2,5 billion US dollars, although his own evaluation is 10 billion dollars.
The metamorphose with the oligarch began after a chance meeting with Stephane Fouks, the co-chairman of EURO RSCG. In a few months' term this foremost PR specialist came over the idea to create a charity foundation with an approximate budget of 30 million Euros; the foundation was headed by a young Frenchman, Thomas Eymond-Laritaz.
Since that time Victor began investing in art - at the moment he ranks among the world's top ten private art collectors. Together with his wife he actively contributes to fight against AIDS: by his invitation, Paul McCartney and Elton John gave their concerts in Kyiv.
Poland, the next bugbear
The idea of YES creation belongs to Fouks. Pinchuk confined himself to just two speeches, rather moderate and simple, and that simplicity fully denies the opinion of those suspecting him to have hidden political ambitions. He is not a tribune. He owns three TV channels and a media-holding, but in 2006 he refused from the Parliament Member's Mandate and distanced himself from Russia.
Still, it is not only Russia that comes under the crossfire of Conference participants. In the last moment Lech Kaczynski, the President of Poland, cancelled his participation. "He got the cold feet", the organizer sais sighingly. Probably the rumours had come to his ear that many of respectable Conference attendees had an intention giving him a dip into the Black Sea and keeping him there until he signs the Lisbon Treaty.
Gilles Fonten
Challenges, No 135, September, 11, 2008.
