Politicians of various stripes voice support for Yuschenko (11/19/00)

Politicians of various stripes voice support for Yuschenko

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Politicians from varying political leanings stepped forward on November 13-14 to support the work of the government of Viktor Yuschenko after the prime minister implied last week that he was tired of the persistent criticism and pressure from political opponents.

On November 13 an ideologically diverse political coalition of lawmakers, including Borys Oliinyk of the Communist Party, Stepan Khmara of the Conservative Republican Party and Mykhailo Syrota, a centrist who is considered the father of the Constitution, called a press conference to express their satisfaction with the work of the Yuschenko government to date.

The next day, leading members of the Reform and Order Party, led by Chairman Viktor Pynzenyk, presented economic figures that supported the government's claim of a substantive economic upsurge.

Mr. Syrota cited a litany of accomplishments in the last year as a clear indication that the prime minister is on the right track, including the spectacular rise in economic indicators including a 5 percent growth in the GDP and an 11.7 percent increase in industrial output for 2000, as well as the retirement of large pension and wage arrears, the $2.3 billion decrease in foreign debt and cessation of electrical blackouts in towns and villages.

"We would think that such accomplishments would be worthy of general praise," observed Mr. Syrota. "But the government has only come under systemic attack."

Mr. Oliinyk, who has separated himself on several occasions from his Communist brethren to make a point on specific issues, supported Mr. Syrota's remarks even as he made it clear that he did not intend to give wholesale approval to the government's economic policies.

"While we do not support the policies of Yuschenko, we support him as a clean politician," said Mr. Oliynyk.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pynzenyk and his fellow party members - whose political ideology can be said to be nearly identical to the prime minister's - came out in unqualified support of the government's program, while stating that certain business oligarchs were putting stumbling blocks on the government's path to force it out of office.

Serhii Soboliov said he believes specific members of the ruling business elite, who wield much power in the Verkhovna Rada and with President Leonid Kuchma, are pressuring the government to either resign or cater to its desires and wishes, especially in the energy sector.

"A key question for the new year is whether the same methods of blackmail and intimidation will continue to be used - and I don't mean from the side of the leftists - for the sole purpose of forcing the prime minister's resignation," he said.

Mr. Yuschenko's Cabinet of Ministers has come under criticism of one kind or another almost from the first day of his appointment by President Kuchma in December 1999, for everything from the way it has proceeded on administrative reform to repeated accusations that it has inflated figures that point to the beginning of an economic resurgence.

Much of the other criticism has been directed at Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was appointed by Mr. Yuschenko over widespread criticism because of her close connections to Pavlo Lazarenko. Mr. Lazarenko, a former prime minister who fled to the United States in 1998 only to be detained on charges of embezzlement and fraud there and in Switzerland and Ukraine, had very close ties to Ms. Tymoshenko's company, United Energy Systems.

Mr. Yuschenko and his vice prime minister have been disparaged for the regulations they have introduced in reforming the energy sector, especially by the business and political oligarchs who want to maintain their singular influence over the market and believe that Ms. Tymoshenko is working merely to maintain a large niche for herself.

Most recently the government has been subjected to criticism for its budget, which leading lawmakers of the majority coalition in Parliament have criticized for being too optimistic both in its revenue predictions and the projected inflation rate for next year. Leaders of the majority coalition, including former President Leonid Kravchuk, have stalled in giving approval to the budget.

For Mr. Yuschenko matters seemed to come to a head when a commission appointed by President Kuchma announced a finding that Ms. Tymoshenko had misled lawmakers during a Parliament session on the state of the energy sector by citing inaccurate numbers on outstanding debt and gas and oil output. A few days later thousands of students marched on the Cabinet of Ministers building to protest the government's failure to develop an effective youth policy.

The demonstrators hurled eggs at the building while butchering a pig and a goat in a gruesome manner. As they did so, local militia looked on passively, which led many to decide that some high-ranking government official must have approved the action. The same day Mr. Yuschenko suggested that he might not want to endure the stress of his post much longer.

Sounding weary and frustrated, Mr. Yuschenko rejected as politically motivated the decision of the commission, which was chaired by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Yevhen Marchuk, another recent vocal critic of the prime minister who has close ties to some of the oligarchs.

"I don't share the conclusions of the commission, I don't consider them sincere," said Mr. Yuschenko. He added that he would not allow politicians to destroy his Cabinet and inferred that he was ready to step aside if he was not allowed to work.

"I have biological limitations," he noted.

National Deputy Syrota said he has no doubts who is directing the effort to force Mr. Yuschenko into early retirement, although he did not name individuals. "The clans have an interest because they are opposed to the government, which has resisted their plans," said Mr. Syrota. "They want to destroy the Yuschenko government to be able to implement the objectives of the largest clans and put one of their own in the prime minister's chair," he explained.

Since he announced the appointment of Ms. Tymoshenko and began a clean-up of the energy sector, Prime Minister Yuschenko has battled the barons of the market, mainly Hryhorii Surkis, who recently purchased half a dozen regional gas providers that were privatized and has extensive dealings in the gas and oil trade, and fellow oil and gas trader Oleksander Volkov, who is one of President Kuchma's closest confidantes. The two have led the fight against the government's proposed budget for 2001. Among those with whom they are joined in various business and political matters are ex-president Kravchuk and First Vice-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Viktor Medvedchuk.

President Kuchma has never fully supported his prime minister, but has snipped at his heels with varying degrees of criticism and dissatisfaction. Much of the criticism has centered on Ms. Tymoshenko's work as vice prime minister, an appointment he formally had to approve. The president often has implied that he does not believe Ms. Tymoshenko should be in government because of her shady past dealings in the energy sector.

His most direct attack on her came in the summer after she and the Turkmenistan government apparently had agreed on a deal for natural gas. Then the president claimed the cost agreed upon was outrageous. Weeks later he signed his own agreement with Turkmenistan at a slightly reduced price.

Mr. Syrota said that Mr. Yuschenko has refused to succumb to pressure to fire Ms. Tymoshenko because she is his "political kamikaze against the energy clans." He also suggested the president is caught up in the power play between the government and the energy barons, and has fought with them as well.

"I don't think the president has the amount of power to neutralize the clans as one would think," explained Mr. Syrota. "Today they have gathered immense wealth and technological capabilities. They are prepared for war on all fronts with all who are perceived as enemies - including the president."

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