National democrats win another round on issue of CIS parliamentary body (02/25/96)

National democrats win another round on issue of CIS parliamentary body

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The plenary work of the Ukrainian Parliament on February 21 created a feeling of deja-vu, as democrats refused to register for the session until the issue of Ukraine's accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States Inter-Parliamentary Assembly was taken off the agenda.

Events began unfolding much as they had in November-December 1995, when the issue was first raised by left-wing forces in Parliament who demanded that Ukraine - already a member of Council of Europe - also join the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

National democratic forces scored a temporary victory in the late afternoon of Wednesday, February 21, as Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz submitted three proposals, none of which got enough votes to be legally binding, and thus bought national-democrats more time to keep Ukraine out of the IPA.

Parliament did not begin its work until 5:15 p.m., just 45 minutes before the end of the daily session, as Mr. Moroz pleaded throughout the day to get deputies to register. National democrats, led by the Rukh, Reforms and Statehood factions, boycotted the plenary meeting, leaving only 246 deputies to work. Two-thirds of the 404-member Parliament, or 269, is needed for a vote to be valid.

Mr. Moroz appealed to the Parliament to keep to its promise to return to the issue of IPA accession, as promised by faction leaders who back in December had noted that the issue could be put on the agenda after the 1996 budget was discussed. (Last week that budget was passed in the first reading.)

Finally, Mr. Moroz submitted three proposals: the first option, which received 191 votes, was Parliament's full accession to the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS; the second option gave Ukraine the status of a participant/observer, and that proposal won 135 votes; the third proposal, which discarded the idea of any role for Ukraine in the IPA, received 71 votes.

In the end, 278 deputies registered and took part in the vote. Further discussion regarding Ukraine's accession to the IPA was put off until after Ukraine adopts a new constitution.

"The outcome of the vote does not permit us to make a final decision," said Mr. Moroz on Wednesday evening.

But the morning hours of the plenary session began ominously for left-wing forces, as national democrats planned their strategy regarding the IPA vote and decided to forego registration.

Even members of such centrist factions as Center and Unity, as well as Socialist-turned-independent deputy Natalia Vitrenko lobbied for the vote on accession to the IPA to be delayed. (Ms. Vitrenko was recently thrown out of Mr. Moroz's Socialist Party along with Volodymyr Marchenko. The two are planning to form a new party, the Progressive Socialist Party.)

"We should not be deciding such hot political issues before the elections in Russia in June and before we have adopted our own constitution," said Mykhaylo Syrota, the head of the Center faction, when leaders of each faction were given a few minutes at the podium to argue what should be done so that work in Parliament could resume.

"I believe that if we were to examine the issue today, our citizens, my constituents would view this as a provocation," argued Ihor Yukhnovsky, head of the Statehood faction.

"I think we should give in to the national democrats once again," stated Ms. Vitrenko, adding that Ukraine has already sold out to the West, and President Leonid Kuchma at that very moment was selling out to the U.S. (She was speaking as President Kuchma was meeting with President Bill Clinton.) "But," she explained, "once we pass a budget, let's turn to our electorate and show them exactly who (i.e., the national democrats) is keeping us from getting any work done."

During the morning hours, Mr. Moroz proposed that the leaders of the factions decide among themselves how to proceed with the issue of the IPA, but to no avail.

"This is an issue we have been coming back to since September," said the chairman, adding that it has taken up more time than it is worth. Indeed, it is the most divisive issue between those deputies who want an independent, democratic, market-oriented Ukraine focused on the West and those who insist not only on closer ties to Russia, but a return to a more socialist and communist-oriented system.

Live radio broadcasts of the session were taken off the air as bedlam reigned in the chambers of the national legislature.

Words were exchanged, tempers flared, punches were even traded, as this sensitive issue was debated both on the floor and in the corridors of the Supreme Council.

Vyacheslav Chornovil, the leader of the Rukh faction, reported on the meeting of the IPA-CIS in St. Petersburg on February 16-18, where a Rukh representative had observed the proceedings.

"The Russians dictate at this CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly," said Mr. Chornovil. "The entire apparat is Russia. And, of course, this is something we do not need, nor will we be part of," he continued.

But, he did not necessarily discard the idea of Ukraine being an observer - the better to see what the IPA is plotting.

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