Ukraine in Focus

Focus on Ukraine, December 22-28, 2008

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law “On the 2009 National Budget of Ukraine. As the UNIAN news agency reported, 226 of the 353 deputies registered in the session hall voted in favor of the budget. The national budget envisages a deficit of UAH 31 billion, or 3% of the GDP. The revenues of the 2009 budget are set at UAH 238 billion, while expenditures are set at UAH 266 billion.

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Focus on Ukraine, December 15-21, 2008

Premier Yulia Tymoshenko stated today in a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers that she has no intentions of being a participant on the current government team and is going in opposition to President Viktor Yushchenko, who in her opinion is covering up illegal currency fraud inside the NBU.

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Focus on Ukraine, December 8-14, 2008

The Ukrainian parliament elected a new speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and formed a coalition. A total of 244 deputies voted in favor of Volodymyr Lytvyn for the position of speaker. The newly elected speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Volodymyr Lytvyn announced the formation of a new coalition in the Verkhovna Rada: Lytvyn Bloc, the YTB and OU-PSD.

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Focus on Ukraine, December 1-7, 2008

President Viktor Yushchenko condemned the plans of the YTB and the Party of Regions to form a majority in the parliament. The president suspects these forces of attempts to review the Constitution and elect a new speaker of the parliament. The president sees in the emergence of such a political force serious threats to Ukraine’s democratic achievements.

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Focus on Ukraine, November 24-30, 2008

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor told Voice of America that the U.S. considers granting Ukraine the MAP is currently not relevant. Taylor said Washington is clearly not about to persuade its partners in the Alliance to grant Kyiv the MAP in December. In other words, the U.S. feels that Ukraine is ready for NATO membership without joining the plan of action. The diplomat further noted that in the event that official Kyiv agrees, it can skip over this stage and immediately raised the issue of membership in the organization upon meeting the set criteria.

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Focus on Ukraine, November 10-16, 2008

The parliament dismissed Arseniy Yatsenyuk from his post as the speaker. 233 of the 350 members of parliament registered in the session hall voted in favour, including 175 members of the Party of Regions, 27 members of the Communist Party, 20 members of the Lytvyn Bloc, 10 members of the United Center, which are part of the OUPSD and one member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

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Focus on Ukraine, November 3-9, 2008

The International Monetary Fund approved a US $16.4 million stand-by line-of-credit for Ukraine for two years. In the fund’s communiqué it was noted that the credit is being granted to assist the Ukrainian government in renewing financial stability in the country.

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Focus on Ukraine, October 27-November 2, 2008

The parliamentarians approved the president’s package of anti-crisis measures in order to prevent the economy from collapsing. This was the main requirement of the IMF to Ukraine. As a reminder, the parliament worked on this document since last week and was only approved in full today in its second reading. 243 members of the YTB, OU-PSD and the Lytvyn Bloc voted in favor of the anti-crisis measures.

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Focus on Ukraine, October 20-26, 2008

The president suspended the validity of the decree on early elections. The head of state explained that he renewed the powers of the Verkhovna Rada for a few days so that the parliamentarians can make amendments to the 2008 National Budget, which will allow for financing early elections.

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Focus on Ukraine, October 13-19, 2008

Presidential assistant Maryna Stavniychuk informed that the holding of early elections of the parliament of the 7th convocation is under threat. She said the latest events in the courts are an attempt to drag out the process and postpone voting.

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