In state of the nation address, Kuchma promotes his vision of political reform (04/20/03)

In state of the nation address, Kuchma promotes his vision of political reform

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma emphasized political reform and the need to shift to a Parliament-dominated system of governance during his annual state of the nation address to the Verkhovna Rada and the Ukrainian public on April 15. The president said he wanted a new system ratified in the Constitution and then implemented in conjunction with the swearing in of a new president at the end of 2004. He also said he is ready for compromise and suggested a roundtable to include all political elements to reach a general consensus on how to proceed with Constitutional reforms.

"I believe it is necessary to search for compromise on these various questions, but I also wanted to emphasize that the necessary changes and additions must be implemented by the end of 2004 to see the realization of the formula: a new president, a new political system," explained Mr. Kuchma.

The president's speech highlighted key aspects of his state of the nation report, which the Constitution of Ukraine requires that he submit annually to the Parliament.

This year the report encompassed 422 pages and was divided into six sections: priorities of the technological development of Ukraine; formulation of mechanisms for agricultural sector development; Ukraine's demographic situation; Ukraine and the World Trade Organization: mechanisms and social-economic effects of cooperation; Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration; and adaptation of Ukraine's legislation to legislation of the European Union.

Lawmakers received the document, which included economic and foreign policy assessments, planned initiatives for the future, and a wealth of statistics and tables, just prior to President Kuchma's presentation.

Oppositionist national deputies used the report to make their own statement. Up to a dozen from the Socialist and Tymoshenko factions strode up to the dais as Mr. Kuchma began his speech and piled their copies atop one another as a symbol of their rejection of his political reform proposals. Mr. Kuchma angrily glanced up at the mountain of books that was rising before him as he spoke, but proceeded with his remarks while his supporters quickly removed the stacks.

The president divided his speech into five parts: his political reform initiative, a topic he first broached on August 24, 2002; his take on an oppositionist memorandum produced the previous day (see story on page 1); Ukraine's economic performance, the country's "European choice" and, finally, its overall foreign policy.

The keystone of the address was the political reform plan, which the president has pushed as the final, determinative stage in bringing Ukraine closer to Europe.

The plan is centered on a call for the Verkhovna Rada to enact the constitutional changes that were approved by a national referendum held in April 2000.

In that national vote, the results of which are generally believed by experts to have been falsified, voters approved a call for a bicameral Parliament, the rescinding of legislative immunity for criminal prosecutions, the ability of the president to dismiss the legislature if it could not approve a budget or form a majority in a specific period of time, and a reduction in the number of national deputies in the lower house.

The president's political reform proposal - which he has described as the transformation of Ukraine from a presidential/parliamentary to a parliamentary/presidential state - would use the changes as the foundation for a new political system that would transfer some executive authority to the legislative branch of government. It would require the Verkhovna Rada to maintain a parliamentary majority that would have the Constitutional right to form a coalition government and appoint a prime minister. It would also mandate parliamentary elections via a proportional, by-party system.

Mr. Kuchma admitted in his speech that a parliamentary system that consists of two chambers would be difficult to develop in Ukraine, but said he believes it is necessary to give the country's regions proper representation in a separate chamber within a proportional type of electoral system. Otherwise, political parties focused only on Kyiv could easily control the central government and forget about outlying regions. He said he is ready to work to develop safeguards to make the system work.

"I fully agree with the necessity for a well-thought-out approach in developing the mechanisms for coordination of the two chambers, protecting the ascendancy of the lower chamber and assuring an upper house popularly elected in full accord with existing world practices and the principles of democracy," underscored Mr. Kuchma, in deflecting charges that he wants to make the upper house a chamber of presidential appointments.

While Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, formerly the president's chief of staff, told journalists a day after the presentation that Mr. Kuchma presented his position on the need for political reform well, and showed consistency and a willingness to compromise, oppositionist national deputies were not so quick to embrace the president's plan.

"There is nothing to comment on here," said the leader of the Socialist faction, National Deputy Oleksander Moroz, immediately after the state of the nation address. "[Mr. Kuchma] still has not given any details on how the bicameral Parliament is supposed to work."

His second in command, National Deputy Yurii Lutsenko, who led the Ukraine Without Kuchma protest movement in 2001-2002, told The Weekly that he wanted to remind people that the idea of a large political roundtable to proceed with political reform was originally a proposal that his protest movement had suggested in 2001. He explained that, while he would be willing to take part in such a political discussion as suggested by Mr. Kuchma, its agenda would have to include the proposals that were presented by his group back in 2001 - including the possible resignation of the president.

"I realize that the concept of a roundtable must include compromise, and I would be ready for this," said Mr. Lutsenko. "But the issue of the resignation of the president would have to be a part of the talks, although I for one would be willing to let him finish out his term under specific conditions."

National Deputy Mykola Tomenko, a member of Our Ukraine, said he sees hope for a roundtable in which all the competing proposals for a new political system could be hashed out and an attempt made to reach a compromise. However, he said the roundtable would be productive only if it involved the development of a specific agenda and objectives, otherwise it would turn into a political free-for-all.

The chairman of the Reforms and Order Party, National Deputy Viktor Pynzenyk, who is also a member of the Our Ukraine faction, said he did not see a new system in the president's presentation. He walked away with a shake of his head when asked whether he liked anything he had heard.

President Kuchma also briefly touched on the country's economy in his address. He said Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) had grown by 20.9 percent from 2000-2002, or an average of 7 percent per year, making it the fastest growing economy in Europe during that period.

Mr. Kuchma noted that exports had risen by 42 percent, which had allowed the country to reduce its foreign debt and raise its hard currency reserves. He also said that during the same period real wages and salaries had increased by 39.7 percent.

The Ukrainian president said that not everything was rosy, however. He pointed out that there is little economic innovation and initiative, either structurally or within businesses, and that most Ukrainian firms are content to continue doing what had made them successful, while seeing little need to introduce innovative technologies or services.

Mr. Kuchma also called for a final flushing out of the shadow economy, which he said was becoming a way of life for many Ukrainians. He said lack of transparency and tax-shielding is the biggest threat to continued economic growth. Mr. Kuchma also called on the government to intensify the privatization process in order to reduce Ukraine's involvement in the private sector to below 10 percent by 2008.

In the foreign policy sphere, President Kuchma asserted that Ukraine would enter the WTO by 2004 if not sooner. He also said that the new Eurasian "common economic space" that Ukraine, Russia, Kazakstan and Belarus planned to develop would not interfere with Ukraine's "European choice" policy.

But he warned the European Union that it needed to make every effort to ensure that "a new Berlin Wall" did not develop at Ukraine's border, leaving the country "between integrated Europe and an integrated Eurasian world."

Finally, Mr. Kuchma underscored that Ukraine must pay special attention to its relationship with Russia, while re-developing a constructive dialogue and strengthening its strategic relations with the United States.

He also called for special attention to relations with "Poland, the Baltic states, Central and Eastern Europe, China, Canada, Turkey and the countries of the Mideast and Latin America."

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