One year after Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," which overturned an officially rigged presidential election in the former Soviet republic, political observers of the country told a December 8 Newsmaker there had been "huge progress" in some areas but that problems remain in others.

Under progress, the Eurasia Foundation vice president for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Olexiy Haran, listed "freedom of speech, freedom of opposition and government officials much more open" to outside advice. High on the problem list, he said, are slow economic growth and corruption. Haran also predicted the next government would not be a one-party one, rather a coalition, "which is positive, because it would mean that Ukraine is growing closer to European [political] standards." He said support from the West is essential for Ukraine's political future, and that "it is important that Ukraine [be a] bridge between an enlarging European Union--which it wants to join--and what he called the post-Soviet "space." In this regard, Haran noted that it also is important for the country "to have stable and pragmatic relations with Russia and our neighbors to the east."