Ukraine's Parliament begins new session (05/17/98)

Ukraine's Parliament begins new session

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The first meeting of Ukraine's newly-elected parliament quickly took on a circus-like atmosphere as Communists walked out even before the 14th session was declared officially open.

Ukraine's second democratically-elected Verkhovna Rada met for the first time on May 12 for a plenary session dealing with organizational matters and was highlighted by the annual state of the nation address delivered before the body by Ukraine's president, Leonid Kuchma.

Chaos erupted on the floor of the parliament, however, as soon as National Deputy Slava Stetsko took to the podium to swear-in her fellow parliamentarians and officially open the 14th session.

As this session's oldest member, the 78-year-old member of Parliament assumed the responsibility of leading her fellow parliamentarians in taking the oath, a right granted to her by Ukraine's Constitution.

As Mrs. Stetsko stepped to the podium, Communist Party members began hooting and raised a banner stating, "Banderites out," referring to a branch of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, a party in which Mrs. Stetsko was active for most of her life and one opposed to communism. Then, as Mrs. Stetsko began to administer the oath of office, some of them turned their backs to her while repeating the words of the pledge.

Before the meeting began, Communist Party members distributed leaflets allegedly showing Mrs. Stetsko greeting a German Nazi officer in 1941, about the time her husband, Yaroslav Stetsko, presided over the declaration of Ukrainian statehood in western Ukraine in June 1941.

After a one-hour break, called by Oleksander Moroz, chairman of the previous Verkhovna Rada and acting chairman of the current body, to allow the national deputies to sign the oaths in which they declared to defend Ukraine's independence and to uphold the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine, the deputies returned for the opening of the session.

However, when Mrs. Stetsko began an introduction in her own words in addition to the official opening words, the Communists had enough and walked out until Mrs. Stetsko was through.

With the unconventional opening out of the way, President Kuchma took the podium to address the 417 national deputies registered in the hall.

The president's state of the nation address lay the groundwork for the Cabinet of Ministers economic reform plan that will soon be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for approval. The president spent the first few minutes of the speech addressing any ideas that a leftist-dominated Verkhovna Rada may have for changing Ukraine's direction away from democracy and the development of free market. "I would first like to let you know that Ukraine is, and will remain, a sovereign state. This is not open to debate," said President Kuchma.

A moment later he added, "I assure you that during the term of my presidency no climactic scenarios will develop. This nation will not support a return to the old system or one of extremist politics."

The president gave an overview of the economic plan he hopes that a new, less contentious Parliament might approve. He cited the need for strengthening monetary policy and asked that Parliament approve a reduction in spending to 2.5 percent from 3.3 percent for 1998.

He predicted that if the financial crisis that is currently threatening Ukraine is overcome, Ukraine could see a 0.5 percent increase in GDP this year, 2-3 percent in 1999 and a robust 4-5 percent by 2000.

President Kuchma restated the often-repeated demand to restructure the tax system, to make it more business-friendly, and also again called for a reduction in government subisidies. "We must give subsidies only to those who need them," stated the president, "but I underscore that war veterans and the disabled must continue to receive them."

Other items on the president's economic wish list were: a land code that would create a land market; a new civil code; restructuring of the pension system; and the strengthening of the banking system.

President Kuchma told the parliamentarians: "The key to the health of Ukraine's economy is in your hands."

He also criticized the effectiveness of the Cabinet of Ministers and Ukraine's sprawling and unrestructured Soviet-era bureaucracy. "The government must stop looking at itself as the administrator of the state and must start seeing itself as the conduit for the wishes of the nation," said President Kuchma.

He said the problem with Ukraine's 300,000 government workers was one of "quality" and called for speedier adminstrative reforms and a new law on the Cabinet of Ministers.

After the president's speech, the Verkhovna Rada began the business of forming its organizational structure, including setting up its permanent presidium, parliamentary committees and electing a chairman. It quickly approved the representatives of the ruling council that will run the parliament until a chairman is elected, which was expected to occur by the end of the week.

The temporary five-man council consists of Oleksander Moroz, chairman of the past parliament and head of the Socialist Party; Petro Symonenko, head of the Communist Party; Anatolii Matvienko, a leader of the National Democratic Party; Yurii Kostenko, member of the Rukh Party; and Pavlo Lazarenko, head of the Hromada Party.

The group represents the five largest political factions formed to date, led by the Communists with 125 members and followed by the National Democratic Party at 78, Rukh with 51, Hromada, 45 and the Socialist and Agrarian bloc faction at 39. Other factions formed thus far are the Green Party faction with 23 members, the Socialist Democratic Party (United) with 19 and the Progressive Socialists with 17.

The Parliament had agreed that factions would be formed only along party lines and that a faction must have a minimum of 14 members

Ukraine does not yet have a full complement of elected national deputies. The body, which normally numbers 450 deputies, is still 20 short of full strength. Most of the vacancies are contested seats now in litigation, or from electoral districts in which elections were ruled invalid by the Ukrainian courts or the Central Election Committee.