Ukraine in Focus, April 14 - 20
2008
The Democratic Initiatives
Foundation is keeping a close eye on the latest political events in
Ukraine in order to monitor the pre-election promises of the
country’s leading political forces that won seats in parliament in
the snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada held on September 30,
2007. The monitoring is being conducted within the
framework of the project “Where are our politicians taking
us?”
Monday, April 14
In an interview on the TV channel ICTV President Viktor Yushchenko
criticized the policy of the government led by Premier Yulia
Tymoshenko putting the blame on her for the current
inflation. The president stated that in the first two
months of the year expenditures of the government increased by 75%,
which precipitated the growth of inflation. In the first quarter of
2008 the annual rate of inflation in Ukraine was 9.7%.
Misunderstandings in parliament again. Members of
the Party of Regions are trying to resolve staffing issues and a
finally ready to name their candidate for the post of first vice
speaker of the parliament. The Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense
party (OUPSD) wants first and foremost for the Law on the Cabinet
of Ministers to be adopted and hear out the information of the ad
hoc committee regarding the activity of the mayor of Kharkiv. The
greatest deviations were caused by the issue of forming an ad hoc
committee on amendments to the Constitution. Even inside the
political coalition there is no common view on amendments to the
Constitution.
Leader of the OUPSD faction Vyacheslav Kyrylenko stated
that his political force does not see grounds for forming a
parliamentary constitutional committee seeing as the president
already formed a national constitutional council.
Kyrylenko said the coalition can only be salvaged if the YTB
faction does not vote in favor of this draft resolution. Recall
that the Party of Regions and the Communists are in favor of
forming such a specialized committee. Meanwhile, the Bloc of Lytvyn
is wavering.
The coalition feels it necessary to make amendments to
legislation that would envisage the holding two rounds of the
elections for the mayor of Kyiv. Member of the OUPSD
faction Yuriy Karmazin informed of this at the closing of the
meeting of the coalition council. He said both coalition factions
supported the decision on the need to approve the corresponding
law.
The president of Ukraine criticized the holding two rounds
of early elections of the mayor of Kyiv. On an official
visit to Warsaw, the head of state noted that this is a political
maneuver, not the desire to ensure that the elections are
democratic. In the president’s opinion, a change in the procedure
for holding elections will be a dishonest and undemocratic
measure.
Tuesday, April 15
The National Movement of Ukraine (Rukh), which is a member of the
parliamentary commission, supports Vitaliy Klitschko as the next
mayor of Kyiv. People’s deputy Yaroslav Kendzior stated
this live on the air of Radio Free Europe. He said that among the
democratic candidates Klitschko has the best chances of winning
against the current mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy.
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko
stated during an official visit to Moscow that Ukraine is concerned
about the statements of Russian officials about Kyiv joining the
NATO Membership Action Plan. In particular, during a
meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Ohryzko tried
to assure Moscow that Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO will
not pose a threat to Russia. The minister said he does not see any
other way of ensuring his country’s security than integration in
the alliance.
Presidential Secretary Viktor Baloha advised the government
of Premier Yulia Tymoshenko to dismiss ministers responsible for
economic issues and assume political responsibility for the
problems the country’s national economy encountered in the first
quarter of this year. In Baloha’s assessment of the
situation, every month the work of the current government is marked
by problems: in January it was the debt for consumed gas; in March
it was irreversible growth of inflation manifested in a sharp
escalation in the prices of the country’s main commodity
groups.
Wednesday, April 16
The YTB faction appealed to President Viktor Yushchenko from the
tribunal of the Verkhovna Rada to put a stop to the badgering of
the government. In the statement of YTB made by the
faction’s leader Ivan Kyrylenko it is noted that the Presidential
Secretariat and the National Security and Defense Council has
recently been attacking the government of Yulia Tymoshenko. It is
further noted in the statement that the head of state and his inner
circle are ruining all initiatives of the democratic coalition and
the government out of purely political interests. Indeed, all
anti-corruption programs of the Cabinet of Ministers in the sphere
of the land market have been blocked. YTB expected that the
president would eradicate all decrees blocking the normal
functioning of the government.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vasyl
Kyrylych informed at a briefing that Ukraine conveyed to Russia the
Memorandum on the Stages and Procedure for the Roll-out of the
Russian Black Sea Fleet from its Stationing on the Territory of
Ukraine by May 28, 2017. Kyrylych said that
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko handed the
Memorandum to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during his
official visit to Moscow on April 15. The Memorandum envisages that
consultations on the procedure and stage of the roll-out of
military formations of the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Ukraine are
to begin on June 1, 2008
Premier Yulia Tymoshenko gave a speech at a session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, in
which she stated that she would like to see Ukraine as a
parliamentary republic. Tymoshenko said, “A parliamentary
republic has an advantage over any monopolized system of
government.”
Thursday, April 17
The government [of Ukraine] intends to implement new social
programs jointly with the Council of Europe. An agreement
was made regarding this issue during the recent official visit of
Premier Yulia Tymoshenko to Strasbourg. In addition to that, the
premier said that the Council of Europe is prepared to enter into
talks with the Ukrainian government on the granting of special
long-term loans for mortgaging.
Today the opposition once again blocked the work of the
Verkhovna Rada. The coalition wants to immediately declare new
elections in Kharkiv. The Party of Regions defended
Kharkiv Mayor Mykhailo Dobkin from decreeing early elections. The
party blocked the tribunal and threatened the VR speaker with
dismissal.
Friday, April 18
Today, First Vice Premier Oleksandr Turchynov announced that the
Cabinet of Ministers was expecting President Viktor Yushchenko to
issue a decree that would eradicate decrees suspending the
privatization process in Ukraine. He said such actions of
the head of state and the Presidential Secretary lower the value of
enterprises being put up for sale.
Presidential Secretary Viktor Baloha criticized the
intentions of the government for having ulterior motives and
personal interests in the privatization of state-owned
enterprises. Baloha also criticized the approval of the
Cabinet of Ministers of the resolution on the procedure for
conducting land tenders.
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