30 December 2010, 18:00
NEW YEAR ADDRESS
of the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Ukrainian People
Dear fellow citizens!
The New Year is on our threshold and the calendar. It is a blessed time, well-remembered from our childhood, that awakens joy and hopes, invites to the family dinner, a circle of friends and sincere communication without everyday cares and troubles.
These unique moments are full of a deep feeling of unity with the nation, involvement in its affairs, inseparability from the Motherland and the compatriots. This tradition has lasted from time immemorial, from our glorious predecessors, and our children and grandchildren will carry it on.
Sincerely greeting you with the New Year holidays, I suggest that we cast our minds back to the part of the common being that becomes the past. It deserves it despite the controversial past and the unknown future. The past and the future should rise from the respect for the things experienced, and build on the conclusions and lessons learned.
The year that passes and the first decade of the 21st century will become notable pages in the chronicle of the development of a newborn, democratic and economically advanced Ukraine. Still, we could have done more. Too much efforts and time were spent for the goals and actions that failed to contribute either to the state or to the people. Unfortunately, the attempts to divert the socio-political energy from a peaceful meaningful course do not stop. They should be left in the past once and for all.
There is a constant urgent need to consolidate the authorities, maintain responsibility of the politicians and the political forces, as well as public concord and understanding. It is a decisive precondition for realizing the historic chance of Ukraine. It is a guarantee that the account presented by the epoch will be settled.
I hope and believe that the year 2011 will become a year of realizing the critical role of these century imperatives, a year of practical, meaningful and systemic work. Such work is a source of satisfaction, and a benchmark of civic engagement and patriotism.
Let the coming year be marked by this creative and constructive sign.
I wish you happiness, health and successful days following the dawn of a new year!
Sincerely yours
Volodymyr Lytvyn