Ukraine Must Defeat Corruption Before Joining the EU

In addition to waging war, Ukraine is also striving to root out the rampant corruption in the country. And no wonder — in 2024, the nation ranked as low as 105th on an index measuring corruption levels. That means Ukrainians are slightly more corrupt than those in Morocco, the Dominican Republic, or Serbia, but still less prone to bribery than people in Algeria, Brazil, or Malawi.

Incidentally, the least corrupt countries in the world were Denmark, Finland, Singapore, and New Zealand. At the very bottom of the list — in positions 178 to 180 — were Venezuela, Somalia, and South Sudan.

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Let us return, then, to Ukraine, which is fighting desperately for its independence against the Russians, with strong support from Western nations. Its leadership has also expressed a firm desire to join the European Union.

In my view, the EU — which itself struggles with corruption — must, despite all sympathy toward the Ukrainians, firmly maintain that this goal cannot be achieved unless corruption is thoroughly eradicated from the country. In this respect, Ukrainians are on the right path, but unfortunately still far from the finish line.

It was therefore rather foolish that President Volodymyr Zelensky tried during the summer to limit anti-corruption investigations — a move that raised doubts, both in me and surely in many others, about whether Ukraine can ever leave behind its Slavic legacy of corruption and one day embrace a Western way of life. 

To be sure, he quickly reversed course, but it is clear that the damage was already done and the stigma of corruption attached to Ukrainians only grew stronger. Erasing that image will not be easy — it will require revelations and punishments that may also reach into Zelensky’s own apparently corrupt inner circle.

It remains to be seen how Ukraine will tackle corruption in the future — and whether the problem can ever truly be brought under control so that the country’s EU membership might one day become even theoretically possible.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Ukraine Risks Losing Western Trust by Muzzling Corruption Watchdog
A New Beginning: Economic Independence in the Hands of Developing Nations
Can Trump Resist the Kremlin’s Lure?

French Election Results: A Deep Dive into Tactical Voting and Its Implications

The second round of the French elections held yesterday has been followed worldwide with great interest because, based on the first round, it was speculated that the immigration-critical National Rally might rise to become the country's largest party and possibly even take on government responsibility.

However, when the results came out, it was clear that this did not happen. Instead, the largest party in parliament became the red-green New Popular Front with 182 seats. The center-right Ensemble pour la République, supported by President Macron, came second, and the National Rally ended up with only 143 seats. Other parties received 68 seats.

What makes the result interesting is something that, at least on their election coverage websites, the national broadcaster Yleisradio as well as private newspapers Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti failed to mention.

Namely, in Finnish elections, the percentage distribution of votes usually plays a major role. According to this, the clear winner of the elections was the National Rally with 37.1 percent. The New Popular Front, which grabbed the most seats, received "only" 25.8 percent, and the Ensemble coalition got 24.5 percent of the votes.

In other words, the elections saw a huge discrepancy between the parties' support and the number of parliamentary seats they received. The explanation for this was so-called tactical voting, an unholy alliance where the political center-right and left-green encouraged voters in each constituency to support each other's candidate if the National Rally candidate had a chance of winning.

One can – of course – ask whether true democracy was realized in the Gallic elections.

In this writing, however, I do not aim to answer the question I posed, but I note that it will be extremely difficult for Macron's supporters and the left-green to find common ground on the direction in which France will be governed in the future. And the situation is not helped by the fact that the left-green New Popular Front is very likely to break up during the current parliamentary term.

This might not matter much otherwise, but France's public finances are even more indebted than Finland's. And the country's economy has not grown in a long time. Meanwhile, the number of immigrants is steadily increasing, and as a result, the number of Muslims now stands at about 10 percent of the population.

Therefore, it remains to be seen what will happen in one of the EU's major powers in the upcoming parliamentary term. My guess is that we will see a lot of action and dangerous situations, so to speak, but France's problems will remain unresolved despite this. And this is not good for the EU, the French, or Finland.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Elections in the UK: A Shift Toward Hand-Waving Politics?
A National Rally election victory does not mean that France will become like Finland under the Finns Party
The future of all Europe is at stake