EDITORIAL: Battle for Ukraine's future continues (07/06/97)

EDITORIAL

Battle for Ukraine's future continues

The battle over the 1997 budget was another confrontation in the political war over whether or not Ukraine should forcefully move towards Europe or remain stuck in a post-Communist, neo-Marxist pool of mud.

In most democracies throughout the world, legislative budget approval is an annual procedure that clarifies policy objectives and gives the political agenda a financial basis. It is not uncommon for disagreements to occur between competing interests as each side vies for its portion of the limited pie of resources. They are resolved or compromised, the budget is passed, the country moves on.

But in Ukraine's leftist-dominated Verkhovna Rada there was no mood for political compromise, no intention to work through to a legitimate budget with a nod to economic reform, keeping in mind the very limited financial resources. It became an either/or situation where either the anti-Kuchma, leftist forces got their way or no budget would be quickly forthcoming. The leftist bloc under the direction of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz won.

It was a major victory for them in the ongoing war between the executive and legislative branches over who wields the ultimate decision-making authority in Kyiv. The president has won other battles, most notably the ratification of the Constitution a year ago. This time he lost.

Leonid Kuchma tried various strategies to overcome the Verkhovna Rada's refusal to work with him. He emphasized more than once, however, that he would not go outside the Constitution and decree a budget. Now he says he will look for a way to approve the budget himself through constitutional means if the Parliament again attempts to destroy the process. He may have no choice because too often in a war, the rules become secondary to the outcome a reality of, which Communists are well aware.

At a glance, the political battle that has been waged between Verkhovna Rada Chairman Moroz and President Kuchma may have appeared to be a simple battle between competing political points of view, much like in any other democracy. Mr. Moroz stood firm on maintaining a strong social safety net for the population. Mr. Kuchma persistently maintained that the tax system had to be overhauled before a budget was presented.

But upon closer observation, it was obvious that it was part of the yet unfinished war for the future direction of the country: the victor will either steer the country through still-unfinished and painful, but necessary, economic reforms, or lead it back toward a miasma of neo-Marxism.

But as the war continues, Ukraine's citizens wait and suffer. Government wages continue to not be paid, and economic reform is at a standstill.

There is a consensus among political observers in Kyiv that the 1998 election campaign for Parliament has begun, and the budget battle was the first manifestation of the process.

It must be made clear that despite the Cabinet's and the presidential administration's seeming inability to prepare an adequate and passable budget bill, in the end, it was the stalling and the haggling in the legislature over proposed economic reforms that delayed the 1997 budget.

Mr. Moroz, who has tried to portray himself as a social democrat of European vintage, recently showed his true color. On Constitution Day (June 28) Mr. Moroz addressed demonstrators who marched through the streets of Kyiv carrying placards with Communist slogans under the hammer and sickle banner of a defunct and discredited system. In what democratic country does the leader of Parliament take part in anti-state demonstrations? Only in a country that is still teetering near the abyss. Only in Ukraine.

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