Constitutional changes inevitable
21 April 2008
Published in
Inform
issue #68
See the full issue here.
The tension between the President’s office and that of parliament has mounted steadily with each passing week. Presidential advisers such as Viktor Baloha, appear intent on destabilising the Orange Coalition and directing their energies to scoring political points against the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko rather than working together to implement the social and economic reforms the nation needs.
Many observers believe this point scoring is the playing out of a phony presidential election campaign, designed to strengthen the president’s hand at the expense of Ms Tymoshenko, who, if she ran for president, is likely to win by a landslide.
See the full issue here.
The tension between the President’s office and that of parliament has mounted steadily with each passing week. Presidential advisers such as Viktor Baloha, appear intent on destabilising the Orange Coalition and directing their energies to scoring political points against the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko rather than working together to implement the social and economic reforms the nation needs.
Many observers believe this point scoring is the playing out of a phony presidential election campaign, designed to strengthen the president’s hand at the expense of Ms Tymoshenko, who, if she ran for president, is likely to win by a landslide.
The tension between the President’s office and that
of parliament has mounted steadily with each passing
week. Presidential advisers such as Viktor Baloha,
appear intent on destabilising the Orange Coalition
and directing their energies to scoring political
points against the government of Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko rather than working together to implement
the social and economic reforms the nation needs.
Many observers believe this point scoring is the playing out of a phony presidential election campaign, designed to strengthen the president’s hand at the expense of Ms Tymoshenko, who, if she ran for president, is likely to win by a landslide.
Sadly, attacks on the government from the office of Mr Baloha are nearly a daily occurrence and the number of presidential demands being placed upon the government has nearly quadrupled compared to those made on the government of Viktor Yanukovych (880 demands compared to 260).
Instead of working with the government, the Presidential Secretariat appears intent on thwarting it whenever the opportunity arises. Anti-corruption programmes have been blocked; privatisation programmes stopped; the sacked leadership of the State Property Fund reinstated; and repeated vitriolic attacks made on the government’s economic performance.
“The continual sniping hasn’t gone unnoticed by voters who perceive the prime minister as seeking to undertake policies beneficial to the average Ukrainian but being blocked by the president’s office at every turn,” said Dr Taras Kuzio, a Research Associate at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Toronto.
This view has been borne out by opinion polls which reveal a decline in the popularity of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine People’s Self-Defence bloc, whilst support for BYuT is at an all time high.
Concern that the tension between the two leaders could result in the collapse of the Orange Coalition was rejected by President Yushchenko. "The coalition will not collapse," he said after a conference in Donetsk, "I told the members of the coalition that ‘I will put chains around you to make sure nobody can leave.’"
Time for a Parliamentary Republic
The tension within the Orange Coalition has its roots in the form of constitutional government that Ukraine has laboured under since 2004. Unclear division of authority between president and parliament has brought successive governments into conflict with the president. Instead of providing a system of checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power, the division has actually curtailed policies designed to help the people.
The presidential suspension of the parliamentary resolution to remove the head of the State Property Fund, Valentyna Semeniuk effectively blocks privatisations earmarked for this spring. This robs the State Budget of billions of hryvnia, which would have been used to underwrite the continuing repayment of savings lost by millions of citizens during the hyperinflation that resulted from the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
If that was not bad enough, the intent of the president’s office to transfer more powers from the Cabinet of Ministers to the president has ominous overtones and last week saw lawmakers leave the Verkhovna Rada in protest.
Ivan Kyrylenko, BYuT’s leader in parliament spoke for many when he said, "The head of state and his entourage are totally destroying all the undertakings and initiatives of the democratic government."
Speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said “the time has come to demarcate the functions of the authorities and make Ukraine a traditional parliamentary republic, as is characteristic of most European states. This model has an advantage over all other monopolistic systems of authority.”
Ms Tymoshenko stressed that this did not mean the removal of the presidential post, but rather a rebalancing of authority in line with best principles of European democracy.
The premier told journalists, “We have set ourselves the goal to conduct constitutional reforms by the end of this year.” She continued to say that Ukraine will ask for assistance from the Venice Commission and PACE member states to help draft the necessary reforms.
“Early elections, were not enough to prevent this imbalance,” said Ms Tymoshenko, the time has come to alter the constitution and put an end to this tension because the people deserve better from their leaders. We should work together in harmony.”
Many observers believe this point scoring is the playing out of a phony presidential election campaign, designed to strengthen the president’s hand at the expense of Ms Tymoshenko, who, if she ran for president, is likely to win by a landslide.
Sadly, attacks on the government from the office of Mr Baloha are nearly a daily occurrence and the number of presidential demands being placed upon the government has nearly quadrupled compared to those made on the government of Viktor Yanukovych (880 demands compared to 260).
Instead of working with the government, the Presidential Secretariat appears intent on thwarting it whenever the opportunity arises. Anti-corruption programmes have been blocked; privatisation programmes stopped; the sacked leadership of the State Property Fund reinstated; and repeated vitriolic attacks made on the government’s economic performance.
“The continual sniping hasn’t gone unnoticed by voters who perceive the prime minister as seeking to undertake policies beneficial to the average Ukrainian but being blocked by the president’s office at every turn,” said Dr Taras Kuzio, a Research Associate at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Toronto.
This view has been borne out by opinion polls which reveal a decline in the popularity of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine People’s Self-Defence bloc, whilst support for BYuT is at an all time high.
Concern that the tension between the two leaders could result in the collapse of the Orange Coalition was rejected by President Yushchenko. "The coalition will not collapse," he said after a conference in Donetsk, "I told the members of the coalition that ‘I will put chains around you to make sure nobody can leave.’"
Time for a Parliamentary Republic
The tension within the Orange Coalition has its roots in the form of constitutional government that Ukraine has laboured under since 2004. Unclear division of authority between president and parliament has brought successive governments into conflict with the president. Instead of providing a system of checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power, the division has actually curtailed policies designed to help the people.
The presidential suspension of the parliamentary resolution to remove the head of the State Property Fund, Valentyna Semeniuk effectively blocks privatisations earmarked for this spring. This robs the State Budget of billions of hryvnia, which would have been used to underwrite the continuing repayment of savings lost by millions of citizens during the hyperinflation that resulted from the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
If that was not bad enough, the intent of the president’s office to transfer more powers from the Cabinet of Ministers to the president has ominous overtones and last week saw lawmakers leave the Verkhovna Rada in protest.
Ivan Kyrylenko, BYuT’s leader in parliament spoke for many when he said, "The head of state and his entourage are totally destroying all the undertakings and initiatives of the democratic government."
Speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said “the time has come to demarcate the functions of the authorities and make Ukraine a traditional parliamentary republic, as is characteristic of most European states. This model has an advantage over all other monopolistic systems of authority.”
Ms Tymoshenko stressed that this did not mean the removal of the presidential post, but rather a rebalancing of authority in line with best principles of European democracy.
The premier told journalists, “We have set ourselves the goal to conduct constitutional reforms by the end of this year.” She continued to say that Ukraine will ask for assistance from the Venice Commission and PACE member states to help draft the necessary reforms.
“Early elections, were not enough to prevent this imbalance,” said Ms Tymoshenko, the time has come to alter the constitution and put an end to this tension because the people deserve better from their leaders. We should work together in harmony.”