Ukraine's feuding president, premier agree to set up commission to work out division of powers
15 March 2007
Published in International Herald Tribune / AP
Ukraine's feuding president and premier reached agreement Wednesday to set up a commission tasked with resolving their ongoing dispute over power in the ex-Soviet republic.
Pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko and the more Russian-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko have been battling each other for supremacy for much of the last six months — a tug-of-war that has at times led to conflicting messages about Ukraine's foreign and domestic policy goals.
Ukraine's feuding president and premier reached agreement Wednesday to set up a commission tasked with resolving their ongoing dispute over power in the ex-Soviet republic.
Pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko and the more Russian-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko have been battling each other for supremacy for much of the last six months — a tug-of-war that has at times led to conflicting messages about Ukraine's foreign and domestic policy goals.
"We came to a joint conclusion that today all
institutes of power must work together for
political and economic stability in our country,"
Yanukovych said after meeting with the
president.
The commission will study ways to improve Ukraine's system of government and propose changes to its Constitution to clarify the division of power. Yushchenko said that the two leaders and Parliament speaker Oleksandr Moroz also will seek to identify national priorities they can work on together.
"There is an understanding that this is a really difficult process where we need to have huge patience (and) an appreciation for national and state priorities to avoid pointless conflict," Yushchenko said.
The apparent breakthrough in the troubled relationship came after the two top opposition parties — both aligned with Yushchenko — walked out of parliament Tuesday and refused to return in protest over the way they and the president have been sidelined.
Yanukovych, who lost the 2004 presidential election to Yushchenko after street protests known as the Orange Revolution, has had the upper hand since his party put together a governing coalition last year.
But Yushchenko has increasingly chafed at his diminished role, and his new alliance with former Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko, whose party is the biggest opposition bloc in parliament, gave him more strength to force agreement from Yanukovych. With Tymoshenko vowing to work together with Yushchenko's party, Yanukovych's majority lacks the necessary 300 votes in the 450-seat parliament to override presidential vetoes.
Yushchenko's office said he and Yanukovych also reached agreement over the question of naming the new foreign minister. Last month, parliament rejected Yushchenko's choice of career diplomat Volodymyr Ohryzko to replace the ousted Borys Tarasyuk. Yanukovych's party had orchestrated the pro-Western Tarasyuk's ouster, and it led opposition to Ohryzko. Yanukovych told Ukraine's Interfax news agency that "we talked about us supporting the candidate put forward by the president," but he stopped short of saying that meant the majority parliamentary coalition would approve Ohryzko.
The commission will study ways to improve Ukraine's system of government and propose changes to its Constitution to clarify the division of power. Yushchenko said that the two leaders and Parliament speaker Oleksandr Moroz also will seek to identify national priorities they can work on together.
"There is an understanding that this is a really difficult process where we need to have huge patience (and) an appreciation for national and state priorities to avoid pointless conflict," Yushchenko said.
The apparent breakthrough in the troubled relationship came after the two top opposition parties — both aligned with Yushchenko — walked out of parliament Tuesday and refused to return in protest over the way they and the president have been sidelined.
Yanukovych, who lost the 2004 presidential election to Yushchenko after street protests known as the Orange Revolution, has had the upper hand since his party put together a governing coalition last year.
But Yushchenko has increasingly chafed at his diminished role, and his new alliance with former Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko, whose party is the biggest opposition bloc in parliament, gave him more strength to force agreement from Yanukovych. With Tymoshenko vowing to work together with Yushchenko's party, Yanukovych's majority lacks the necessary 300 votes in the 450-seat parliament to override presidential vetoes.
Yushchenko's office said he and Yanukovych also reached agreement over the question of naming the new foreign minister. Last month, parliament rejected Yushchenko's choice of career diplomat Volodymyr Ohryzko to replace the ousted Borys Tarasyuk. Yanukovych's party had orchestrated the pro-Western Tarasyuk's ouster, and it led opposition to Ohryzko. Yanukovych told Ukraine's Interfax news agency that "we talked about us supporting the candidate put forward by the president," but he stopped short of saying that meant the majority parliamentary coalition would approve Ohryzko.