Zaporizhia – There is no personal conflict in relations between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, but there is a conflict of ideology, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Secretariat Oleksandr Shlapak said at a press conference in Zaporizhia on Tuesday.
“We are not speaking about a conflict between two persons, we are speaking about a conflict between two ideologies,” he said.
“The premier is a person who advocates a centralized state. She thinks that we should return to the situation when central government solves everything. [A situation in which] she is responsible for practically all of functions of governing the state… The president represents absolutely another philosophy – speaking about the economy, he is a liberal. He considers that the personal interests of every person should be the main motive for the development of the situation,” Shlapak said.
According to him, the presidential secretariat has greater opportunities to express opinions than ministers “who are under the premier’s pressure.”
“The Economy Minister is in a most difficult situation: He can’t voice his thoughts. I know him, we communicate with each other. Or my good acquaintance the acting Finance Minister, who is forced … to write the budget [of the state for 2010],”the deputy head of the secretariat said.
Shlapak also said that “the premier doesn’t intend to compromise with anybody”, including the president, in order to achieve her goals.
At the same time taking into account the forthcoming presidential elections, the first deputy head of the secretariat said he was sure that the model of state centralism that Tymoshenko advocates “will not be established in Ukraine.”
