Taras Kuzio’s Blog

Ukraine and Italy are Closer in Culture Than You Think

I have analysed Ukraine for a quarter of a century from a unique vantage point of having a Ukrainian father and Italian mother. Unique that is, from the viewpoint of analysis but not the Ukrainian community in Britain.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and slave labourers arrived in Britain in the late 1940s and the lack of Ukrainian women meant they married other Catholic immigrants from Italy, Ireland, and Austria.
Analysing Ukraine with Ukrainian-Italian parents also came with another vantage point of being born in Britain, and living and working in the US and Canada. With this background I reached an important conclusion; namely, that Ukrainian liudski and political culture is closer to Southern Europe and will never become Anglo-Saxon.
Italy has its corrupt media oligarch, Silvio Berlusconi, who interferes in the judiciary. Although Ukrainian oligarchs do not seem to have the sexual appetite of Berlusconi nevertheless inexplicitly in both countries ordinary voters back political forces (Party of Regions and People of Freedom party) run by wealthy people.
Italy and Ukraine share similar politics of populism alongside a Communist party. Both countries have tolerated economic and political corruption for a long time: Italy only began to battle organised crime and corruption in the 1970s and 1980s while Ukraine has never done gone beyond declarations. The close working nexus of corruption-politics-state-big business found in Donetsk closely resembles that of the Christian Democratic Party that ruled Italy from the 1940s until early 1990s.
The similarities between Ukrainian and Latin culture can be broken down into four areas.
The first is a zest for life which Latin and Slavic people have; just take a visit to the Caribbean night club in Kyiv which plays Latin music, and the similarly reckless way that they both drive cars. The US cities that have the greatest zest for life are where Latin people are in a majority such as in Chicago, New York, and Miami. In Canada the same is true with French-speaking Quebec which is very different to protestant Ontario.
Protestant culture in the US and Canada looks negatively at people who have an alcoholic drink at lunchtime. The 2 hour French lunch-break with wine is legendary and similar liberal attitudes to alcohol prevail in Quebec and Miami.
Latin and Slavic people do not see alcohol as an ‘evil’ that should be controlled by the state. Alcohol purchases can only be made in state shops in most Canadian provinces and in three Scandinavian countries – but not in Ukraine or southern Europe.
Second, family life is a necessity in Latin and Slavic culture, partly because it fulfils a role that the state does not. Ukrainians and Italians are more likely to rely on the extended family than on the state because the state is unable to provide services and is untrustworthy. Ukrainian kumy or Italian uncles and cousins are more trustworthy and are more likely to assist you.
This leads to a culture of mutual support of brothers, sisters, kumy, uncles and cousins. When a Ukrainian obtains a high ranking position in Kyiv or an Italian or Frenchman moves to Brussels they all do the same thing; they bring their extended family with them and ensure they also obtain employment. This practice inevitably leads to corruption as obtaining new jobs requires a ‘consultancy fee’ or ‘present’.
Third, Italians and Greeks could teach Ukrainians many things about dodging paying taxes. Canadians, British people Germans and Scandinavians tend to be more honest about paying taxes.
The question is why?
When citizens pay taxes in Anglo-Saxon countries they do so because they believe that the state is largely not corrupt and that they will receive efficient and professional state services in return for their taxes. In Latin and Slavic culture such a ‘contract’ between the state and citizens is absent and citizens believe that their taxes will be subject to corruption or will be inefficiently utilised. The state is not seen as a provider of professional services and therefore taxes are not worthwhile paying.
This inevitably leads to a large shadow economy in Italy and Ukraine as dodging taxes becomes deeply ingrained. Although the Ukrainian economy began growing a decade ago the size of the shadow economy has remained between 40-50 percent of GDP which suggests structural impediments are in place to prevent it from declining. In addition, while most Ukrainians want to see corruption reduced they do not want that to happen at their expense and therefore they continue to receive their ‘brown envelope’ with real salary at the end of each month.
Fourth, such practices also lead to a wide gap between declared and real incomes. The Economist (24 June) wrote about Italy that: ‘The owner of five Ferraris claims an income of €1,000 ($1,200) a month. A restaurant owner purchases a €750,000 home but declares nil income. An owner of a large property portfolio never files tax returns. Cases like these are part of the colourful patchwork of Italian tax evasion, which is estimated to cost the country around €100 billion a year, equivalent to some 6% of GDP. Little wonder that the government is trying harder to collect the money. A financial-stabilisation decree enacted on May 31st contains several measures aimed at tax cheats’.
Ukrainian politicians probably take this further than Italians because the gap between rich and poor is far greater in Ukraine and the middle class is smaller than in Italy. But, nevertheless, the similarities are evident. Ukraine’s novoricheau also have more vulgar tastes in mobile phones, cars, watches or other products and a greater dispensation to flaunt their wealth.
No matter how strong would be the Ukrainian leaders political will he or she will not be able to transform Ukraine into an Anglo-Saxon country. But, as the examples of Italy since the 1970s and Georgia since the Rose Revolution have shown, there are a range of policies that can change a country for the better by reducing crime and corruption, improving the rule of law and making the country a better place to do business and invest as a foreigner.