NEWSBRIEFS (09/08/02)

NEWSBRIEFS

Will Our Ukraine join protest?

KYIV - "I support the protest actions [planned by the opposition to start on September 16] because they are an adequate reaction to activities of the authorities who do not see or hear anything," UNIAN quoted Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko as saying on September 3. Asked why Our Ukraine, has not announced that it will join the "Rise Up, Ukraine!" protest campaign Mr. Yushchenko gave a vague answer. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian National Rukh, a member of the Our Ukraine bloc, has reportedly decided to join the September 16 protest. Hennadii Udovenko, the leader of the National Rukh of Ukraine (another constituent of Our Ukraine), told UNIAN that Our Ukraine regional branches have been given the right to decide on their own whether to join the protest campaign. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition calls for Kuchma's ouster

KYIV - At a joint news conference in Kyiv on September 2, the leaders of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party appealed to Ukrainians to take part on a massive scale in the open-ended nationwide protest campaign that is planned to begin on September 16, the second anniversary of the disappearance of journalist Heorhii Gongadze, Ukrainian media reported. Ms. Tymoshenko, Petro Symonenko and Oleksander Moroz told journalists that the protest campaign will be continued until President Leonid Kuchma and "other representatives of Ukraine's top authorities" resign their posts, the UNIAN news service reported. The three leaders also called for an early presidential election. "We cannot wait for another two and a half years [for the regular presidential election in 2004] because then we will get Kuchma or his successor," Reuters quoted Ms. Tymoshenko as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma continues to urge reform

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has addressed a letter to the Verkhovna Rada, which opened its autumn session on September 3, asking the Parliament to back his proposal last month to introduce constitutional amendments in order to move Ukraine toward a parliamentary-presidential republic. "My proposal is not a joke or a test of loyalty, but a considered choice. I hope that, after the initial shock, political leaders will understand the seriousness of the president's intention and start work on changing the Constitution," Reuters quoted from Mr. Kuchma's letter. Meanwhile, Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn in his opening address to the session warned deputies against "drawing the Parliament into debates on early presidential and parliamentary elections," UNIAN reported. "A dynamic transformation of the feeble Ukrainian political process into an outburst of political emotions, multiplied by the president's political initiatives and innovations, is fraud, apart from everything else, with pushing to the background all the remaining urgent problems connected with the country's vital functions," Mr. Lytvyn said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko wants coalition government

KYIV - Addressing the parliamentary session on September 3, Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko called on deputies not to yield to pressure from the presidential administration while constructing a democratic parliamentary majority, UNIAN reported. According to Mr. Yushchenko, the most urgent tasks facing the Verkhovna Rada are forming a coalition government and signing a political accord on harmonious cooperation between the prime minister, the president and the Verkhovna Rada. "There is no other way all the rest is fuss," Mr. Yushchenko stressed. Leonid Kravchuk from the Social Democratic Party-United responded to Mr. Yushchenko by saying that a coalition Cabinet cannot be formed without introducing relevant amendments to the Constitution. Meanwhile, Yulia Tymoshenko, Petro Symonenko and Oleksander Moroz appealed to national deputies to take part in the opposition protest campaign scheduled to begin on September 16. According to Messrs. Symonenko and Moroz, the primary task of the current parliamentary session is to adopt a fully proportional election law. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Current line-up in Verkhovna Rada

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Chairman Lytvyn told national deputies that the current numerical strength of caucuses and groups in the 449-member Verkhovna Rada is as follows: Our Ukraine (109 deputies), Communists (63), Party of Entrepreneurs-Labor Ukraine (40), Ukraine's Regions (37), Social Democratic Party-United (35), Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (23), Socialists (21), European Choice (18), Democratic Initiatives (18), Popular Democratic Party (17), Power of the People (17), Ukraine's Agrarians (16), People's Choice (15) and United Ukraine (nine). The Rada also had 11 independent deputies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko compares regime to Stalin's

KYIV - Our Ukraine bloc leader Viktor Yushchenko told journalists on 29 August 29 that Ukraine is witnessing "how state institutions resort to the methods of a dictatorship," Reuters reported. Mr. Yushchenko was commenting on his meeting with President Leonid Kuchma earlier the same day, where he handed the president Our Ukraine's open letter. "My colleagues have been subjected to political persecution to make them change their faction, betray their political views and obediently join a majority formed by the presidential administration," Mr. Yushchenko noted, adding that "we need to abolish this kind of 1937 regime." (RFE/RL Newsline)

President firm on pursuing reform

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma confirmed at a Cabinet sitting on August 28 that he intends to implement constitutional reforms that would move Ukraine toward a parliamentary-presidential republic, as he announced last week, Interfax reported, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mr. Kuchma said a working group to prepare relevant amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine should include representatives of the presidential administration and the government, as well as lawmakers and experts. The president called on the Verkhovna Rada to create a majority that could form a coalition Cabinet and take joint responsibility with the government for running the country. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tabachnyk seeks talks with Our Ukraine

KYIV - Dmytro Tabachnyk from the pro-presidential Labor Ukraine parliamentary caucus said on August 28 that more than 230 lawmakers have already formed a parliamentary majority, thus confirming an earlier assertion to this effect by Oleksander Zadorozhnyi, the permanent presidential representative in the Parliament. Mr. Tabachnyk said the parliamentary majority will now seek talks with the Our Ukraine caucus on the creation of a constitutional majority (300 votes) to secure the implementation of the political reform proclaimed by President Leonid Kuchma. However, Our Ukraine Vice-Chairman Yurii Kostenko commented the same day that no parliamentary majority has been created thus far. "If Our Ukraine goes into opposition, the Parliament will adopt no decision, no budget, no law," Mr. Kostenko added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Is there a parliamentary majority?

KYIV - Oleksander Zadorozhnyi, the permanent presidential representative in the Verkhovna Rada, told Interfax on August 27 that President Leonid Kuchma may support the creation of a coalition Cabinet even without making relevant amendments to the Constitution. Mr. Zadorozhnyi was commenting on Mr. Kuchma's proposals last week to move toward a parliamentary-presidential republic and empower the Parliament to form a Cabinet. Mr. Zadorozhnyi said an "informal" parliamentary majority of 231 deputies has already been created by caucuses that previously constituted the United Ukraine bloc, as well as by the Democratic Initiatives group and several unaffiliated lawmakers. In his opinion, the current prime minister, Anatolii Kinakh, could also head a future coalition Cabinet since "the candidacy of Victor Yushchenko may not obtain the necessary number of votes." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine calls for national forum

KYIV - The Our Ukraine bloc intends to gather a national forum of democratic forces to formulate "basic demands" with regard to the authorities, UNIAN reported on August 27. Our Ukraine's Political Council at its meeting on August 25 decided that the bloc will take part in the anti-government protests scheduled by the opposition for September. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko said he regards the planned protests as "a part of the bloc's political strategy and [I] want to widen the circle of political participants in the [protest] action." The Political Council on August 28 decided to hold the nationwide forum of democratic forces in Kyiv on September 15, one day before the inauguration of anti-presidential protest actions planned by the opposition, Interfax reported. The council also appointed Roman Bezsmertnyi to coordinate Our Ukraine's activities with those of the organizers of the upcoming protest campaign, which include the Communists, the Socialists and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv wants EU market-economy status

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma requested on September 3 that the European Union grant his country market-economy status as it did for Russia earlier this year, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Kuchma made the request at a meeting with European Commission President Romano Prodi at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Prodi reportedly responded that the European Commission will issue its opinion in six months. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Oil and gas seen as key for Russia

MOSCOW - Russian policy toward its neighbors in many instances is dictated by a desire to control the oil-and-gas export infrastructure, Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote on August 27. This conclusion stemmed from the daily's analysis of President Vladimir Putin's policies toward the former Soviet republics and, especially, his recent about-face in relations with Belarus. The paper wrote that Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia seem to be nothing more than oil-and-gas transit corridors for Russia. However, it warned that this policy might cause Russia to lose both control over the oil-and-gas infrastructure there and its political influence. If Belarus agrees to Mr. Putin's proposal to incorporate it into the Russian Federation, it would simply be an apposite illustration of the thesis that Russia has always conducted a "cynical colonial policy," the paper wrote. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Socialists want reform without Kuchma

KYIV - The Socialist Party has said the reform of Ukraine's political system proposed by President Leonid Kuchma in his address to the nation on August 24 could be implemented much more quickly if Mr. Kuchma resigned his post, the UNIAN news service reported on August 27. The Socialists noted that President Kuchma's proposals to move Ukraine's political system toward a parliamentary-presidential republic replicate their party-program goals and stressed that the implementation of those goals has thus far been blocked by the president. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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