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Focus on Ukraine, July 28–August 3, 2008

August 4, 2008
Focus on Ukraine

The Democratic Initiatives Foundation follows political events in Ukraine with the aim of monitoring the pre-election promises of the country’s leading political forces that won seats in the parliament as a result of the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada on September 30, 2007. The monitoring is conducted within the framework of the project “Where are our political leaders taking us?”
 

July 28

According to preliminary estimates, 30 people died in the recent natural disaster (severe flooding) in the western oblasts of Ukraine. Six of the victims were children and the total damages have been assessed at UAH 3-4 billion.
On Thursday Premier Yulia Tymoshenko announced an emergency convocation of the Verkhovna Rada with the aim of entering additions to the national budget that would sanction and regulate the allocation of funds in order to cover the costs of the disaster clean-up.

Daniel Fried, U.S. Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine that the U.S. will propose at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in December that Ukraine and Georgia join the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP).
He pointed out the lack of consensus in Ukraine on the issue of the country’s accession to NATO, which the government of Germany is stressing. The newspaper quoted the U.S. diplomat: “But this is not an obstacle to MAP as the issue here is not about membership.”

Yuriy Kostenko, Acting First Deputy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, personally delivered a communique of protest to Advisor to the Embassy of Russia in Ukraine Vsevolod Loskutov. In the communiqu? Kostenko expressed his deep concern about Russia ignoring the appeals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine about the inadmissibility of conducting shooting exercises and movement of military hardware during the celebration of the Day of the Russian Naval Fleet planned for July 27 in Sevastopol, Crimea.

July 29

The results of a nationwide public opinion poll conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation presented to journalists on Tuesday showed that Ukrainian citizens consider ecological disasters and energy dependence the greatest threats to their country.
The surveyed responded that among the greatest threats Ukraine may encounter in the next decade are: ecological disasters – 67%, Ukraine’s energy dependence on countries supplying it with energy resources – 62%, the AIDS epidemic – 60%, economic depression – 60%, technogenic disasters and major accidents – 59.5%, global spread of diseases such as avian flu – 59% and the consequences of global warming – 51% (For more details, visit the official DIF site at www.dif.org.ua.

Negligence, corruption and non-observance of the law are the main reasons for the recent natural environmental disaster in Western Ukraine.
Director of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation Ilko Kucheriv expressed such an opinion at a press conference titled Ukrainian Security – Potential Threats, saying “if Ukraine corresponded to the standards of the European Union and NATO, such a major environmental disaster could have been avoided.”

David Merkel, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs for Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, said the sooner that NATO grants Ukraine the Membership Action Plan, the sooner Russia will stop applying pressure on official Kyiv.
Merkel assured that the U.S. has no intentions of suspending its support of Ukraine, regardless of the unstable political situation in the country.

July 30

President Viktor Yushchenko submitted to the Verkhovna Rada his draft law on entering changes to the national budget.
This document was drafted in order to take emergency measures in cleaning up the aftermath of the recent national disaster in a number of oblasts in Western Ukraine.

The U.S. House of Representatives ratified a resolution on its continued support of NATO enlargement.
In the resolution it is stated that “no country that is not a member of NATO has the right to decide by vote who shall become a member of the alliance”.
In the resolution it further reads, “Any decision on NATO membership shall be approved by members of NATO by way of consensus and not a single state beyond the borders of NATO has the right of vote or veto concerning such decisions.”

July 31

The Verkhovna Rada approved the presidential decree on declaring certain parts of Western Ukraine emergency environmental disaster zones.
In addition to that, the Cabinet of Ministers must submit to the parliament information on clean-up results in the aftermath of the disaster.

The Verkhovna Rada approved changes to the Law of the National Budget concerning the allocation of an addition UAH 5.46 billion for the clean-up of the natural disaster in Western Ukraine. VR deputies also voted in favor of raising excise taxes on tobacco, something the government has been insisting on.

59 parliamentarians signed a petition and submitted it to the Constitutional Court about the compliance of the president’s decree concerning the Odesa-Brody pipeline with the Constitution. The petition was passed on to the CC Secretariat for review.

August 1

At the moment, 523 populated areas and just over 9,000 homes in six oblasts of Western Ukraine remain underwater in the aftermath of the recent flooding.
So far, a total of 223,400 kilograms of food products, 600,568 liters of potable water and 5,400 medicinal products have been delivered to the victims of the floods.
In addition to that, 62 bridges for vehicles and pedestrians have been restored, 75 units of river embankments have been reinforced and 84 kilometers of road have been repaired.
The finance and economy ministries worked throughout the night on approving the procedure for spending the funds allocated from the national budget to cover the expenses on the clean-up of the natural disaster. All decisions are planned to be approved at the emergency meeting of the government on Saturday.

President Viktor Yushchenko signed the law On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On the National Budget of Ukraine for 2008 and amendments of certain legislative acts of Ukraine on cleaning up the aftermath of the recent floods that affected six oblasts of Ukraine.



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