South Tyrol: Key to peace in Ukraine?

South Tyrol could be seen as an "ideal model" to help find a peaceful solution to crisis-gripped Ukraine.

The region, wedged between the Swiss and Austrian borders, was annexed to Italy at the end of World War I. German speakers are the local majority in South Tyrol - but native Italian speakers live here too.

Relations between the two groups have not always been easy but started to improve in the 1970s when South Tyrol was granted autonomy.

Under the agreement, 90% of taxes paid in South Tyrol stay in the region.

It is now the richest province in Italy. Unemployment is low and business is thriving.

Fast forward to the current conflict in Ukraine and, maybe, "lessons can be learned" from the South Tyrol “model of democracy".

Like Italy and the South Tyrol example, Ukraine faces its own, well publicised push for autonomy from its two breakaway, mostly Russian-speaking, regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The South Tyrol issue was settled peacefully and, despite the bloodshed of the last year, maybe Ukraine can finally resolve the controversial push for autonomy from these two regions.

The Minsk Agreement in February, it is worth recalling, agreed by all sides, calls for "decentralization" of powers for "some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions" (those separatist controlled).

Constitutional reform is pledged by Kiev by the end of 2015 with decentralisation to include "special and permanent" provisions for the separatist regions.

The conflict with neighbouring giant Russia and simmering civil war has devastated the Ukrainian economy which shrank at an alarming 14.8pc over the last three months of last year.

The economy contracted by 6.8% in 2014 but the slump could worsen to as much as 12% in 2015 according to government forecasts.

A collapsing currency, dwindling central bank reserves and hyper inflation near 30pc have led to Kiev requesting a $17.5bn bail-out from the International Monetary Fund.

The EU aid package MEPs approved this week is the third tranche of loans released to the country. Two thirds could be disbursed by the end of this year but it would be conditional upon commitments to be agreed between the European Commission and the Ukrainian government.

It is, of course, all a far cry from peaceful, prosperous South Tyrol. The devastation wrought in Eastern Ukraine in the past year or so cannot be remotely compared with gentile South Tyrol.

But if the major issues of autonomy this pretty part of Europe experienced in the past can be resolved, why not the Donbass in Ukraine?

Share this article: