Taras Wozniak

The works of the baroque sculptor known as Master Pinzel are famous and plentiful. But little is known about his life. Perhaps looking at the time in which he lived can give us a better picture of the person behind the art.

The race is on between Russia, the US, and the EU to get to oil and gas reserves in Asia and Central Asia, and to ensure that the oil is pumped through friendly territories. According to Taras Wozniak, behind Russia’s aggressive energy resource policy that caused last winter’s gas crisis in Ukraine is the wish to keep its neighbour out of Nato. So far, Russia has failed to destabilize the pro-EU Yushchenko government. That might change if it should decide to hold back Ukraine’s oil supply.

Since the collapse of communism, Ukraine has been a white spot on the map of Europe and a non-entity to policy makers in Brussels. Whereas Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have safely found their place in so-called “Central Europe”, the Ukraine’s place in the history and the geography of Europe continues to go unrecognized. The reasons are to be found in cynical political and economical reasoning more than anything else, argues Taras Wozniak and calls for a show of unity of Eastern European countries and their common interests.

Es klingt paradox: Die geplante Osterweiterung der Europäischen Union rückt Freiburgs Partnerstadt Lemberg weiter von Europa weg. Wenn Polen EU-Mitglied wird, dann wird die vergleichsweise durchlässige Grenze zwischen Polen und der Ukraine zur harten Ostgrenze der EU. Und nicht nur Lemberg bleibt dann aussen vor. Dass die Zukunft der Ukraine auch von Europa abhängt, ist seit langem Thema der Freiburger West-Ost-Gesellschaft (WOG), die nun ihr 20-jähriges Bestehen feierte. Eingeladen zum Jubiläum war auch Taras Wozniak, Leiter des Amtes fur Internationale Angelegenheiten der Stadt Lemberg. Mit Walter Mossmann, Publizist und WOG-Mitarbeiter, fuhrte er ein Gespräch über Grenzen für die Zeitung zum Zonntag.