Pro-Europe Ukrainians See a Model
親歐烏克蘭人向波蘭看齊
By Danny Hakim

LVIV, Ukraine – Every kind of business in this restless pro-European stronghold near the border with Poland has an idea about how to make Ukraine like its more prosperous neighbor.
在波蘭邊境附近的烏克蘭親歐大本營、終日擾攘的利沃夫市，關於如何讓烏克蘭向更繁榮的鄰國波蘭看齊，各行各業都有話說。

For Yaroslav Rushchyshyn, founder of a garment manufacturer, it is abolishing bizarre regulations that have had led to inspectors’ threatening fines for his handling of fabric remnants and for reporting financial losses.
對成衣廠創辦人魯西辛而言，辦法就是廢止奇怪的法規，稽察官員援引那些法規威脅魯西辛，要對他處置零頭布料及申報虧損的作法開罰。

For Andrew Pavliv, who runs a technology company, and dreams of turning Lviv into a little Ukrainian Silicon Valley, it is modernizing a rigid education system to help nurture entrepreneurs.
對經營科技公司、夢想把利沃夫變成烏克蘭小矽谷的帕夫利夫而言，辦法是讓一成不變的教育系統現代化，培育創業家。

For Natalia Smutok, an executive at a company that makes color charts for paint and cosmetics, it meant starting an antibribery campaign, even though she is 36 weeks pregnant.
對製作油漆及化妝品色卡的企業執行長娜塔莉亞．史穆脫克而言，那意謂的是掀起一場反賄賂運動，儘管她已懷孕36周。

With the West poised to pump billions of dollars into Ukraine, the money may prove a temporary fix unless the government addresses some of the country’s festering structural and regulatory challenges.
如今西方國家準備以數十億美元挹注烏克蘭，但如果烏國政府不能面對多項惡化中的結構及法規挑戰，那些錢恐怕只能救急。

The International Monetary Fund is expected to call for reforms as a condition of any long-term aid. Economists stress that the problems run deep in Ukraine, a country still dealing with the legacy of its Soviet past as it tries to embrace trade opportunities beyond Russia.
國際貨幣基金料將要求烏克蘭厲行改革，以此為提供長期援助的條件。經濟學家強調，烏克蘭積弊深重，這個國家至今仍一邊因應蘇聯時代遺留的問題，一邊爭取俄羅斯之外的貿易機會。

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine’s growth has badly lagged other one-time communist states. And it has fared especially poorly against Poland, its neighbor to the west, which, while by no means perfect, has been a model of how much faster a former Soviet bloc country can advance.
自蘇聯解體以來，烏克蘭的經濟成長一直遠落於其他昔日共產國家之後。與西鄰波蘭相較，烏克蘭尤其顯得不堪，波蘭經驗縱然並不完美，但一直是個典範，展現前蘇聯集團國家可以進展得多快。

Ukraine, which counts steel and agricultural products among its chief exports, has seen its output fall since the last days of the Soviet Union. Poland’s has risen sharply and is far larger now than Ukraine’s, though it has a smaller population. While Poland’s growth has slowed of late, its per-capita gross domestic product of $13,000 is roughly three and a half times that of Ukraine.
烏克蘭主要出口品包括鋼鐵及農產，產出從蘇聯時代晚期就開始一路下滑。波蘭人口較烏克蘭少，產出卻大增，且如今遠超過烏克蘭。波蘭經濟成長近來雖然放緩，其平均每人國內生產毛額卻達1萬3000美元（約台幣39萬7000元），約為烏克蘭的3.5倍。

In Lviv, an hour’s drive east of the Polish border, such differences are visible, said Ms. Smutok and her deputy, Iryna Bulyk.
史穆脫克和她的副手艾爾娜．布爾克說，在距離波蘭邊界約一小時車程的利沃夫，烏波兩國的差異相當明顯。

“Better roads,” Ms. Bulyk said. “Better houses,” Ms. Smutok added.
布爾克說：「波蘭的道路較好。」史穆脫克說：「波蘭的房屋較好。」

Victor Halchynsky, a former journalist who is now a spokesman for the Ukrainian unit of a Polish bank, said the divergence of the two countries was a source of frustration.
出身新聞界、現為一家波蘭銀行烏克蘭分行發言人的哈欽斯基說，兩國的歧異正是烏克蘭人沮喪的來源。

“It’s painful because we know it’s only happened because of policy,” he said, adding that while both countries started the reform process, Poland “finished it.”
他說：「令人難過，因為我們知道那都是政策造成的。」他還說，兩國都曾展開改革，但波蘭「完成了改革」。

Steep energy subsidies in Ukraine have kept consumption high and left the country dependent on Russian gas, draining state coffers. Mr. Pavliv said the state university system, which he called “pure, pure Soviet,” was too inflexible to set up a training program for project managers, or to allow executives without specific certifications to teach courses. The agriculture industry once a Soviet breadbasket has been hurt by antiquated rules, including restrictions on land sales. Aggressive tax police have been used to shake down businesses.
高度能源補貼使得烏克蘭能源消耗居高不下，且一直仰賴俄羅斯的天然氣，讓國庫失血。巴夫諾夫說，烏克蘭的國立大學系統，他口中的「純純蘇聯式」系統，在為專案經理人開設訓練課程，或允許無學位的企業執行長授課上，都太缺乏彈性。而曾為烏克蘭贏得蘇聯穀倉美譽的農業，已因許多落伍規定而受害，包括對土地買賣的諸多限制。積極徵稅政策則一向被用來壓榨企業行號。

More immediately, there is the threat of war with Russia.
眼下更迫切的，還有與俄羅斯開戰的威脅。

Ms. Smutok, whose antibribery campaign has local business leaders confront customs officials, said the turmoil was “so close to my home I’m not really afraid of small things like corruption and fighting the government.”
史穆脫克的反賄運動已使當地企業領袖與海關官員對立，她說當前的亂局「跟我的家園有密切關係，我現在不怕貪腐及與政府對抗這種小事」。

Executives here welcome a potential association agreement with the European Union to open up flows of Western capital and markets, though they are not universally eager to actually join the European Union. Some fear open borders could be jarring, draining skilled workers and allowing more established foreign competitors to take business.
利沃夫的許多企業執行長歡迎烏克蘭與歐盟簽訂結盟協議，以引進西方資金，同時打開西方市場，但他們並非全都積極主張加入歐盟。有些人擔心，開放邊界會帶來震盪，使技術勞工外流，且容許更具實力的外國競爭者買下當地企業。

Pavlo Sheremeta, the country’s new minister of economic development and a native of Lviv, said, “The first problem is over-regulation, the second problem is the Ukrainian markets are monopolized by politically influential people and groups, and that’s one of the reasons that foreign investors are basically not welcome.”
烏克蘭經濟發展部新部長雪倫梅塔的故鄉就在利沃夫，他說：「第一個問題是過度管制，第二個問題是烏克蘭市場被政界有力人士及團體獨占了，那是烏克蘭基本上不歡迎外資的原因之一。」

The third problem, he said, was Ukraine’s court system, which “were making political decisions, not judicial decisions, and any investor would be frightened by that.”
他說，第三個問題是烏克蘭的法庭系統「會做出政治決定，而非司法決定，而這會嚇到投資人」。

Mr. Rushchyshyn, who runs nine garment factories, said Ukraine still had an uneasy relationship with capitalism.
經營九家成衣廠的魯西辛說，烏克蘭對於資本主義仍覺得不自在。

“Businessman, this is a bad word,” he said, adding, “I don’t call myself a businessman. I’m a work giver. People don’t understand this is the same thing.”
他說：「企業家，現在是個令人不舒服的字眼。」他還說：「我不會自稱企業家，我是提供工作機會的人。很多人不了解，這其實是一樣的。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/business/international/in-ukraine-a-wish-to-be-a-bit-more-like-poland.html

2014-04-01聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 馮克芸譯 原文參見紐時週報七版右