Focus on Ukraine, June 16-22, 2008
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?”
June
16
A NATO
delegation headed by its Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
made an official visit to Kyiv to review Ukraine’s readiness for
joining the alliance’s Member Action Plan.NATO representatives, the president of Ukraine and
members of the National Security and Defense Council discussed
Kyiv’s progress in implementing the Ukraine-NATO plan of action and
the targeted program for 2008.The NATO Secretary General explained to average Ukrainian
citizens the prospects and advantages of joining the North Atlantic
alliance.
President Viktor Yushchenko stated after his meeting with NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that Ukraine will insist on
joining the NATO Membership Action Plan this
year.Specifically, he
assured that by the end of this year Kyiv can meet all conditions
for being accepted to the MAP, though he emphasized that Ukraine
would approve its final decision as to joining NATO after a
referendum.
June
17
The
Verkhovna Rada voted down the draft law annulling deputy privileges
that was proposed by the Party of Regions.
The Party of Regions and the Bloc of
Lytvyn did not give a single vote for their own draft
laws.
To sum it up, 192
deputies voted in favor of amendments to the law on the status of a
deputy concerning privileges. The votes were divided as follows:
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc – 153, Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense – 42
and the Communist Party – 24.
The
YTB faction proposed making amendments to the law on the status of
people’s deputies, which would limit the number of privileges and
implement an imperative mandate.
YTB proposed to establish additional grounds for
suspending the powers of a deputy, in particular stripping their
mandate for not being elected to a faction or a bloc of a party
according to the list by which they were elected and for refusal to
sign a pact about a coalition or opposition to its
activity.
Representatives of
the Bloc of Lytvyn and Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense such a law
will “enslave” deputies.
June
18
Deputies of the Party of Regions appealed to the Constitutional Court with a request for an official clarification of the legitimacy of the coalition of democratic forces. According to the legislative procedures, the appeal was submitted for review by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
The YTB faction
will recall Ihor Rybakov, who announced he will leave the
coalition, from the VR Committee on Legislative Guarantee of the
Law Enforcement Activity.YTB
member Oleksandr Steshenko submitted the corresponding draft
resolution. The members of the faction explained their decision by
the fact that Rybakov cannot fully represent the YTB deputy faction
by his moral virtues and political convictions.
June
19
Premier Yulia Tymoshenko was on a working visit to Brussels
where she will take part in the Summit of the European People’s
Party.
Prior to her
arrival, the Brussels correspondent on European-Ukrainian issues
Michael Emerson said that the EU is concerned about the
confrontation between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko as this weakens the
position of official Kyiv in the negotiations process according to
the newly intensified agreement. This is the reason Emerson said
that European government leaders want to hear Tymoshenko’s version
of the current affairs and a way out of the protracted
crisis.
The
European Union gave a positive assessment of the economic situation
in Ukraine.
EU High
Commissioner of Security Issues Javier Solana said the economic
policy of the Ukrainian government is fairly successful, though
leaders of the state must focus their attention first and foremost
on political issues.
Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko stated the country’s
intention of joining the charter of small enterprises, which will
give a serious boost to the development of enterprise and the
formation of a middle class in Ukraine.
In addition to this, the premier tried to interest
her European colleagues in Ukraine’s agricultural
sector.
YTB
faction blocked the parliamentary dais and
presidium.
YTB is
demanding from the Verkhovna Rada that it immediately resolve such
issues as the imperative mandate and the cancellation of deputies’
privileges and immunity.The
opposition feels that YTB is stalling for time in order to announce
the demise of the coalition. In response to this YTB members say
the bloc will definitely switch to the opposition if the
parliamentary forces are prepared to form a new
majority.
June
20
YTB
members once again blocked the parliamentary dais.
VR Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized
that when the parliamentary session hall is blocked there is no
sense in pretending that the parliament is functioning and reminded
that over the course of the next two weeks the deputies will be
working in committees and electoral districts.
In addition to that, the speaker said
he would announce the formation of a new coalition in parliament as
soon as its factions submit to him the corresponding
agreement.
- May 19, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, May 12 – 18, 2008 - May 26, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, May 19-25, 2008 - June 2, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, May 26-June 1, 2008 - June 9, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, June 2-8, 2008 - June 16, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, June 9-15, 2008 - June 30, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, June 23-29, 2008 - July 7, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, June 30-July 6, 2008 - July 14, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, July 7-13, 2008 - July 21, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, July 14-20, 2008 - July 28, 2008
Focus on Ukraine, July 21–27, 2008
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