Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, already working without four cabinet ministers, could face more disarray this weekend if the pro-presidential Our Ukraine party carries out threats to quit her coalition.
As President Victor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party prepared for its June 27 party congress, the Regions Party led by Victor Yanukovych – Tymoshenko’s main rival in the Jan. 17 presidential contest – demanded the dismissal of three more ministers.
And with politics heating up ahead of the presidential election, concerns are mounting over whether Ukraine’s divided leadership can put differences aside to revive a recession-battered economy.
“If the government loses any more ministers it will cause a huge problem,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies. “If the president decides to remove his ministers, the government won’t be able to take decisions in the middle of an economic crisis. That would be an absurd situation.”
If at least nine ministers resign or are dismissed out of the cabinet’s 25 members, the law states that the government cannot make decrees or take decisions.
Infighting within Tymoshenko’s own camp is also to blame for the shakeup.
Her erstwhile ally Yosyp Vinsky, the former transport minister, was formally dismissed by parliament on June 24. He resigned last week, claiming that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was blocking major infrastructure reforms and projects linked to the Euro 2012 soccer tournament. She accused him of misusing Hr 15 million of government money to promote a presidential bid. He rejected this claim.
Earlier this month, Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, a close Yushchenko ally, was dismissed by parliament after Tymoshenko accused him of corruption. The country’s finance and foreign ministers also left their posts this spring. The defense and foreign ministers are chosen by the president.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s party congress, leading members of Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party said it’s high time to pull their five ministers from the parliamentary coalition, where they are tenuously partnered up with the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (known as BYuT) and Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn’s party.
“This coalition long ago became cover for the negotiations between BYuT and the Party of Regions, and is not carring out its lawmaking functions. Therefore it’s time to end its existence,” said Ksenia Lyapina, an Our Ukraine deputy.
“The decision has to be taken by the Our Ukraine faction and it’s natural that afterwards we’ll have to withdraw our ministers from the government,” she added.
Oleksandr Yefremov, a Regions party lawmaker, said on June 23 that bills had been registered in parliament on the dismissal of six further ministers: Education and Science Minister Ivan Vakarchuk, Justice Minister Mykola Onishchuk, Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, Culture and Tourism Minister Vasyl Vovkun, Industry Minister Volodymyr Novytsky and Health Minister Vasyl Knyazevych. Yefremov added that his party would insist on the dismissal next week of Vovkun, Vakarchuk of Our Ukraine and Lutsenko from the National Self-Defense party.
Tymoshenko has accused her rivals of trying to sabotage her government’s attempts at dealing with a painful recession. But Yushchenko on June 24 accused her of following an “empty chair” policy aimed at concentrating power in her hands alone. “This policy gives the right to total improvisation, to the unilateral actions of the prime minister,” he said.
Yanukovych weighed in on ICTV television channel on June 23, saying, “There is no team in the cabinet. All that is left is a small group of irresponsible people headed by the prime minister.” His party, however, has not been aiding the work of the government by blocking the podium in parliament on several occasions. On June 25, Yanukovych threatened that his party would block the work of parliament until the state budget was amended to increase the minimum wage.
Tymoshenko hit back, saying the lack of ministers was not inhibiting the government’s ability to fight the crisis, comparing the situation to a game of soccer. “On several occasions a team of 10 players has won the game,” she said. “I think that our government, even if we don’t have a full team of player-specialists, will still defeat the crisis by a large score.”
Analysts say the current squabbles over the make-up of the government equate to efforts by each party leader to jockey for position ahead of the approaching presidential elections, set by parliament this week for Jan. 17.
“Our Ukraine wants to force early parliamentary elections,” said Taras Berezovets, director of the Politech political consulting company. He added that “if the coalition falls apart, Tymoshenko would look for a deal with the Party of Regions. And many members of the Party of Regions would be happy with a seat in the cabinet.”
He said the latter development might actually be beneficial for Ukraine because there are professionals in the Regions Party who could strengthen Tymoshenko’s economic team and help her fight the crisis.
All of this political maneuvering can hardly be music to the ears of the International Monetary Fund, which is currently in Kyiv for talks on releasing the next tranche of a $16.4 billion loan agreed last year. They have stipulated policies on the budget and bank recapitalization that will need political consensus for implementation.
“The biggest problem remains the fighting between Tymoshenko and Yushchenko,” said Berezovets. “This will only get worse up to the elections.”
