Tymoshenko stands firm
04 June 2008
Published in
Inform
issue #73
See the full issue here.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has ruled out any notion that she will resign on her own initiative. The premier made this clear on the TRK Ukrayina TV channel when commenting on the political tension that exists between the Cabinet of Ministers and the office of President Viktor Yushchenko.
Ms Tymoshenko made the point to scotch rumours that she was about to resign. “There are accusations going around that Tymoshenko is looking for the perfect moment to find an excuse, slam the door and leave… I will never allow myself to do this. I will continue to carry the responsibility of government,” said the premier.
Speculation over the resignation of the premier and dismissal of the government is rife given the rift between the president’s secretariat and the Cabinet of Ministers.
For months, the president has criticised his coalition partner at every turn, pouring scorn on her policy to repay Soviet-era lost bank savings while thwarting privatisation plans which would pay for the scheme. He has publicly lambasted her for the state of the economy, blaming her for the country’s inflation rate, which nearly topped 30 percent, while he blocks badly needed anti-inflation laws and budget revisions. According to Ms Tymoshenko, some 40 anti-inflation measures have been blocked by his office.
The respected economist Anders Aslund, was reported in The Economist as saying that Mr Yushchenko “seems more interested in harming [Ms Tymoshenko] politically than in capping inflation.”
See the full issue here.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has ruled out any notion that she will resign on her own initiative. The premier made this clear on the TRK Ukrayina TV channel when commenting on the political tension that exists between the Cabinet of Ministers and the office of President Viktor Yushchenko.
Ms Tymoshenko made the point to scotch rumours that she was about to resign. “There are accusations going around that Tymoshenko is looking for the perfect moment to find an excuse, slam the door and leave… I will never allow myself to do this. I will continue to carry the responsibility of government,” said the premier.
Speculation over the resignation of the premier and dismissal of the government is rife given the rift between the president’s secretariat and the Cabinet of Ministers.
For months, the president has criticised his coalition partner at every turn, pouring scorn on her policy to repay Soviet-era lost bank savings while thwarting privatisation plans which would pay for the scheme. He has publicly lambasted her for the state of the economy, blaming her for the country’s inflation rate, which nearly topped 30 percent, while he blocks badly needed anti-inflation laws and budget revisions. According to Ms Tymoshenko, some 40 anti-inflation measures have been blocked by his office.
The respected economist Anders Aslund, was reported in The Economist as saying that Mr Yushchenko “seems more interested in harming [Ms Tymoshenko] politically than in capping inflation.”
The conflict reached farce when the president threw
his weight behind the Texan oil company, Vanco, which
had its hydrocarbon production sharing agreement and
license revoked by the government. Then last Friday,
a letter from the president was sent to the premier
concerning a six-
week delay in developing the Olympic stadium as one of the venues for the 2012 UEFA Soccer tournament. Will Ukraine’s late preparedness for the tournament be the next issue to be laid at Ms Tymoshenko’s door?
A constant stream of instructions and requests from the president has deluged the premier’s office. During the first 100 days of work the government received 800 instructions. “This amounted to more than eight per day, or one every working hour,” said Hryhoriy Nemyria, Deputy Prime Minister, “it was an effort to stifle the premier’s office with bureaucracy and far exceeded the modest demands he made on the Yanukovych-government.”
Most observers believe the animosity is because the president fears Ms Tymoshenko’s popularity. He sees her as his rival in the 2010 presidential election and is black-painting her as a way to lower her ratings. Yet Ms Tymoshenko has repeatedly asserted that she has no plans to run for the presidency and wants only to focus on instituting an effective government. “I’m not thinking about future elections, because I’m thinking about how to fulfil my obligations,” she said.
“The president is playing a dangerous game,” speculated a financial analyst based in Kyiv, “the more this soap opera plays out in public, the more disillusioned the electorate is becoming with the Orange team. At this rate the president is sweeping the path clear for Yanukovych to seize what was denied him in 2004. It is damaging both of them. He should look to the recent Kyiv election as evidence of what happens when the house is divided.”
Lutsenko and Zhvania in the Frame
The president has also turned on those within his Our Ukraine – People’s Self- Defence bloc who are sympathetic to the prime minister. In a style more reminiscent of the Soviet-era, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has launched criminal cases against Yuriy Lutsenko, Minister of the Interior and leader of the People’s Self-Defence bloc, and Davyd Zhvania, the bloc’s financial backer. Both Lutsenko and Zhvania have
accused Mr Yushchenko of political persecution.
According to Mr Zhvania the two are being punished for failing to have the People’s Self-Defence faction support a plot to expel the
Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) from the democratic coalition and replace it with the Party of Regions. The plot would have seen
Ms Tymoshenko’s removal and Viktor Baloha, head of the president’s secretariat, installed as prime minister.
The charges levelled at Lutsenko and Zhvania appear to be flimsy and centre around the unofficial use of government aircraft to fly their families.
“Framing up criminal cases cannot be accepted as a political tool, no matter how the secretariat may dislike what Lutsenko is saying about Baloha or Yushchenko,” said Our Ukraine lawmaker, Taras Stetskiv.
Speaking on TRK Ukrayina, Ms Tymoshenko addressed the recent power split. “Today there are two more governments above the Cabinet of Ministers, one of them is the National Security Defence Council and the other is the Presidential Secretariat,” she said Ms Tymoshenko ruled out BYuT joining a grand-coalition with the Party of Regions.
week delay in developing the Olympic stadium as one of the venues for the 2012 UEFA Soccer tournament. Will Ukraine’s late preparedness for the tournament be the next issue to be laid at Ms Tymoshenko’s door?
A constant stream of instructions and requests from the president has deluged the premier’s office. During the first 100 days of work the government received 800 instructions. “This amounted to more than eight per day, or one every working hour,” said Hryhoriy Nemyria, Deputy Prime Minister, “it was an effort to stifle the premier’s office with bureaucracy and far exceeded the modest demands he made on the Yanukovych-government.”
Most observers believe the animosity is because the president fears Ms Tymoshenko’s popularity. He sees her as his rival in the 2010 presidential election and is black-painting her as a way to lower her ratings. Yet Ms Tymoshenko has repeatedly asserted that she has no plans to run for the presidency and wants only to focus on instituting an effective government. “I’m not thinking about future elections, because I’m thinking about how to fulfil my obligations,” she said.
“The president is playing a dangerous game,” speculated a financial analyst based in Kyiv, “the more this soap opera plays out in public, the more disillusioned the electorate is becoming with the Orange team. At this rate the president is sweeping the path clear for Yanukovych to seize what was denied him in 2004. It is damaging both of them. He should look to the recent Kyiv election as evidence of what happens when the house is divided.”
Lutsenko and Zhvania in the Frame
The president has also turned on those within his Our Ukraine – People’s Self- Defence bloc who are sympathetic to the prime minister. In a style more reminiscent of the Soviet-era, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has launched criminal cases against Yuriy Lutsenko, Minister of the Interior and leader of the People’s Self-Defence bloc, and Davyd Zhvania, the bloc’s financial backer. Both Lutsenko and Zhvania have
accused Mr Yushchenko of political persecution.
According to Mr Zhvania the two are being punished for failing to have the People’s Self-Defence faction support a plot to expel the
Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) from the democratic coalition and replace it with the Party of Regions. The plot would have seen
Ms Tymoshenko’s removal and Viktor Baloha, head of the president’s secretariat, installed as prime minister.
The charges levelled at Lutsenko and Zhvania appear to be flimsy and centre around the unofficial use of government aircraft to fly their families.
“Framing up criminal cases cannot be accepted as a political tool, no matter how the secretariat may dislike what Lutsenko is saying about Baloha or Yushchenko,” said Our Ukraine lawmaker, Taras Stetskiv.
Speaking on TRK Ukrayina, Ms Tymoshenko addressed the recent power split. “Today there are two more governments above the Cabinet of Ministers, one of them is the National Security Defence Council and the other is the Presidential Secretariat,” she said Ms Tymoshenko ruled out BYuT joining a grand-coalition with the Party of Regions.