Turning the pages back... December 22, 1999 (12/17/00)

Turning the pages back...

December 22, 1999

One year ago, on December 22, 1999, Ukraine's president and Parliament were on the same wavelength, as both were focused on the priority of economic reform. While President Leonid Kuchma looked on approvingly, national deputies across the political spectrum joined to give their overwhelming approval to National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yuschenko's nomination as Ukraine's next prime minister.

Our correspondent reported from Kyiv that Mr. Yuschenko received 296 votes in favor of his candidacy out of 316 deputies present. Twelve deputies cast their ballots against Mr. Yuschenko, while four registered themselves as present but abstained from voting. The remaining 136 deputies, some absent, did not vote. Three members of the usually rabidly leftist Progressive Socialist Party - headed by Natalia Vitrenko - broke party ranks to join the heavy majority supporting Mr. Yuschenko's candidacy.

The lopsided legislative victory marked a critical success in President Kuchma's efforts to build a working parliamentary majority to accelerate the pace of Ukrainian economic reforms - one of his key campaign promises.

One of the biggest barriers to implementation of more radical Ukrainian economic reform was a long-standing impasse between Mr. Kuchma, who advertised himself as a business-friendly centrist, and largely leftist parliamentary deputies. Mr. Kuchma nominated the 45-year-old Mr. Yuschenko after the Verkhovna Rada shot down his first nomination, long-time political ally Valerii Pustovoitenko on December 14.

A little more than a week later, politicians across Ukraine's political spectrum were registering their support in favor of President Kuchma's second choice for prime minister. "Viktor Yuschenko is the kind of professional Ukraine needs right now," said National Deputy Stepan Havrysh, a Revival of Regions faction member.

Mr. Yuschenko made clear that his short-term goal as prime minister was to deal with Ukraine's foreign debt by stabilizing its finances. Ukraine faced $3 billion worth of foreign obligations coming due in year 2000 alone, and commercial lenders stopped advancing credit in mid-1998. "We should admit that for a very long time this state has lived beyond its financial capabilities," Mr. Yuschenko said in his acceptance speech. "We have no choice but to put our financial house in order."

Source: "Verkhovna Rada overwhelmingly approves reformer Viktor Yuschenko as prime minister" by Stefan Korshak, The Ukrainian Weekly, December 26, 1999, Vol. LXVII, No. 52.

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