Translated material
Stabilizets in Kiev style
Yushchenko is in no hurry to choose a partner
Yesterday's meeting of the Verkhovna Rada did not bring the long-awaited news about the creation of a parliamentary coalition empowered to form a government. The presidential bloc "Our Ukraine" continues to choose an ally - it could be the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko plus the Socialist Party, or the Party of Regions of ex-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. The presidential bloc promised to announce the creation of a coalition today, but the opposition no longer believes these statements.The presidential bloc is trying to sit on two chairs, “before lunch” it is conducting tense negotiations with the “orange” and then with the opposition “regionals,” Yulia Tymoshenko said yesterday. Our Ukrainians have received two draft coalition agreements with the autographs of potential partners, but are in no hurry to make a final choice. The honorary chairman of Our Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, could have put an end to the negotiations, but he avoided the unpleasant decision.
“Our Ukrainian” Roman Bezsmertny said that the coalition is stalling due to the fact that two issues related to Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the continuation of political reform have not been resolved. He proposed creating a stabilization coalition of 300 deputies in the Rada, which could include not only the “orange”, but also the “regionals” “for the sake of the economic prosperity of the country.” To this, the leader of the opposition Communist Party, Petro Symonenko, said that the negotiations were being delayed due to the fact that the Rada had been turned “into a dirty bazaar” where ministerial portfolios were traded. The stabilization coalition, according to his caustic remark, will lead to the fact that “stabilization will come in Ukraine.”
“Calls to create a stabilization coalition indicate that Our Ukraine considers a coalition with the Party of Regions more comfortable than with the Orange,” Vadim Karasev, head of the Ukrainian Institute of Global Strategies, told Vremya Novostey. - The only problem is how to present it to public opinion. Calls to unite against a common enemy, inflation and instability, are nothing more than an attempt by “Our Ukraine” to draw both the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Party of Regions into one “collective farm.” The expert believes that the “orange” will regard the statements of “Our Ukraine” as a betrayal of the ideals of the Maidan.
The Party of Regions and the Communist Party, in alliance with other “conscious deputies,” promised to elect the leadership of the Rada if today, June 21, a parliamentary coalition is not formed. As Viktor Yanukovych stated, for this purpose the “regionals” will create an anti-crisis coalition, which will include deputies from all factions. The Orange view these threats with skepticism. As socialist Ivan Bokiy said yesterday, the speaker elected in this way can be removed at any time by a future coalition that can be formed in accordance with the law.
“There won’t be a parliamentary coalition for at least another week,” Karasev believes. June 26-27 is the deadline after which the president has the right to dissolve the Rada. According to the expert, Yushchenko “is advantageous to balance on the brink of dissolving the Rada in order to squeeze out of his partners a majority configuration that is convenient for him.” At the same time, if the Socialist Party and BYuT turn out to be intractable and do not want to join the “broad coalition” with the Party of Regions, and the “orange” electorate fails to explain the benefits of the union of “Our Ukraine” with the “regions”, the president will bless the “orange” coalition . As a result, the coalition configuration will be the result of “spasmodic choice under the pressure of circumstances,” Mr. Karasev believes.