The crisis in the Ukrainian parliament, where the ruling Orange coalition is breaking down, is having “an immediate effect on the national economy”, president Viktor Yushchenko has warned in an interview with Emerging Markets.
The parliamentary majority, formed of the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc and the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defence group, is “divesting itself of responsibility”, Yushchenko said.
Speaking after deputies from the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc prevented him from delivering his annual address to parliament on Tuesday, Yushchenko said: “This poses a danger not only to the Verkhovna Rada [parliament], but, above all, to the Ukrainian people.
“The coalition cannot reach agreement on key issues. [It] has to find a way of working that does not impede the activities of government bodies.”
The president added: “In my address [to parliament] I wanted to say [...] that there must not be irreconcilable opposition between the political forces in parliament. Ukrainian society has grown weary of political struggles and confusion.
“People want to see and feel the result of the authorities’ work, not look at endless political battles.”
The deputies’ demonstration on Tuesday followed the announcement of proposals, supported by Timoshenko and Viktor Yanukovich’s eastern-Ukraine-based Party of Regions, to reduce the president’s power to almost nothing by means of constitutional amendments.
Timoshenko’s apparent support for the plans brought to a climax the widening rift in the Yushchenko-Timoshenko coalition formed after the elections in October last year. Many observers believe the conflict will end, yet again, in early elections.
The political paralysis means that little or nothing is being done about mounting economic problems – in the first place inflation, which in April hit a record 30% year-on-year rate and is threatening to spiral further.
Economists’ calls for concerted action on macroeconomic policy have been largely ignored, while the Timoshenko bloc has proposed administrative price measures. Pro-Timoshenko deputies claimed their blockade of the speaker’s podium on Tuesday had been in protest at lack of progress on anti-inflation measures.
“I do not think we should invent our own formula for fighting increasing prices”, Yushchenko told Emerging Markets. “There are methods of doing this that have stood the test of time around the world. We need to look at the type of inflation that we are dealing with, and take appropriate market-based measures.
“If it is a natural process that is brought about by imbalances on world markets then any administrative interference will have, in the first place, an insignificant short-term effect, and, secondly, will lead to shortfalls in incomes for producers.” Anti-monopoly legislation should be used to deal with any cartel-type behaviour, he added.
On the constitutional changes, Yushchenko implicitly rejected the Timoshenko-Party of Regions plan, urging that the National Constitutional Council – a body of academics, parliamentarians and civil society representatives working on reform issues – should continue its work.
Analogous changes to the constitution, carried through in 2004 in an “atmosphere of secrecy and hastiness” had been an “unprecedented outrage”, Yushchenko said. “The constitution is not a child’s plaything; it is not something you can just make changes to at your own whim.”
Opinion polls showed that most Ukrainians opposed the “purely parliamentary form of government” now proposed, he pointed out.
Yushchenko responded robustly when asked about anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Moscow, which has re-emerged on the back of Kiev’s efforts to move forward on NATO membership and links with the European Union.
Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was last week denied entry to Ukraine on a directive from the security services, after he made remarks questioning the status of the Sevastopol naval base, and Crimea as a whole, as part of Ukraine.
“This isn’t the first time we have witnessed this kind of politically uncultured behaviour by certain Russian politicians,” Yushchenko complained. “It appears that making disparaging remarks with regard to Ukraine has recently become something of a vogue among those in the lower ranks of the Russian authorities.
“I am prepared to put it down to a lack of political and diplomatic culture. On the other hand it is not possible to simply not react to such comments.”