Government To Take Risks With Action Plan
The government will soon submit to Verkhovna Rada for consideration its draft action plan, Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh told representatives of foreign information agencies. “We would prefer the action plan approved in June before Verkhovna Rada goes into a recess because work on a new budget begins at that time,” the premier declared. The action plan will span two years, an indication that this is the term during which Anatoly Kinakh wants to continue in office. Under Ukrainian law, for one year after the approval of the government’s action plan a prime minister is immune from any attempts by the legislature to make him resign. Given the approval of the two-year program, Kinakh can hypothetically retain his post until 2004, even ignoring progress reports to parliament. Recall that exactly one year ago Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko was dismissed by lawmakers on the heels of his report to parliament. Valery Pustovoitenko, a record holder among Ukraine’s premiers, held his job for three years without any reports to lawmakers on how his government’s action plan was implemented.
The chances of Anatoly Kinakh to keep the helm of the ship of state during the parliamentary storms expected in May-June are rather high, with some factions having already voiced their backing for him. Thus, his allies include For A United Ukraine (ZaYedU), SDPU(o), and Communists (at any rate, the latter have not discussed Kinakh’s dismissal so far). Their vote is sufficient to derail any motion to dismiss Kinakh. The motives of Ukraine’s chief Communist Petro Symonenko are not that transparent. The Communists have so far lain claims to some parliamentary committees, apparently, believing it to be a sufficient political remuneration for themselves. “We are not considering the issue of premier’s dismissal so far,” Symonenko says. But his “so far” coupled with the Communists’ drumbeat about Kuchma’s impeachment this year hold a promise of more than one parliamentary storm for Anatoly Kinakh.
Meanwhile, President Kuchma has firmly declared he is against replacing the premier. “The most important thing for Ukraine is stability, and I see stability in the government,” the president said, stressing that some ministerial portfolios will have to be given to the winner parties. Apparently unruffled by any threats of his upcoming impeachment, President Kuchma is currently preparing for his address to the new Verkhovna Rada. Still, Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko will definitely have a hard time keeping his faction’s radicals at bay. But if his claim to the post of a prime minister is compensated by several gubernatorial or even ministerial portfolios, he might call off his dogs, at least for some time. Yushchenko’s exaggerated peaceful mood after his last meeting with the president makes it possible to make such an assumption.
If Yushchenko’s and Tymoshenko’s blocs are hypothetically joined by Moroz’s Socialists, People’s Deputy Taras Stetskiv optimistically predicts the emergence of a 190 or 200-member majority. This will not be enough to oust the government but will make it possible to keep it under constant barrage of political fire.
Answering a direct question on whether he intends to keep his post further, Anatoly Kinakh said, “It does not depend on my wish alone. Anyway, my attitude toward the issue is not based on my wish to stay as long as I can in this office.” The head of the Ukrainian government believes that his chances hinge on the talks among the parties that made it to Verkhovna Rada and will be clarified already in May. Formally, in Kinakh’s opinion, everything will come into the open when lawmakers begin hearings on the government’s action plan, with the reaction of Verkhovna Rada to the plan becoming the acid test for the attitude of legislators toward Kinakh.
Speaking about the government’s action plan, its major objectives, according to Kinakh, are combating poverty, protecting the interests of owners, expanding foreign sales markets, and deregulating entrepreneurial activities. Accession to the World Trade Organization will be a clear guideline for the government. The receipts from privatizing state property will be reinvested by the government in the economy. In fact, this same program has been implemented by his government last year, Premier Kinakh stressed. The government’s action plan was prepared quite some time ago but the government, to be on the safe side, did not submit it to Verkhovna Rada for approval due to the high level of political competition on the eve of the elections. Now, it seems, the government will have to take it on the fly.
