Lab Terminology: Material Available, Analysis Unfavorable

On November 5, an international round table, Power and Opposition: The Technology of Cooperation, was held courtesy of the European Institute for Political Culture (EIPC) and the embassies of Russia, Poland, and Hungary in Ukraine. Speaking at the opening ceremony, EIPC President Oleh Bespalov called on the participants to address the issue of civil dialogue in Ukrainian society and cooperation between the authorities and opposition. From among the representatives of the latter Viktor Yushchenko was the first to take the floor. Having dubbed the current state of affairs in the country as a “crisis of power” (obviously, the crisis somehow spared the opposition), the leader of Our Ukraine stressed yet again there were no “traditional dialogues” among representatives of the political elite. According to him, one of the key elements in the stability of a country is a parliamentary majority formed by all people’s deputies. Moreover, to quote Viktor Yushchenko, there is a need for a political pact between the majority, a government trusted by the people, and the president. “It is up to the authorities to make their move now,” he summed up. The Our Ukraine leader also expressed an opinion that there is “democratic material” in the parliament required to form a “viable democratic majority.”

Speaking at the round table, the first president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, noted the relevance of such criticism of those in power, while adding that “criticism alone and declarative statements will not serve any real purpose.” As he put it, there is a way of bringing to terms all the active subjects of political life, and for this reason the regime should be viewed as one of the sides in the process of decision-making. Continuing the discussion about the best technologies of cooperation between representatives of the power and opposition, the leader of the SDPU(O) parliamentary faction underscored that no decisions would be possible without amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine. “I understand the opposition’s wish to oust the powers that be. However, before this can be done, changes must be made to the Constitution of Ukraine,” Kravchuk stressed. In his opinion, the political pact proposed by the Our Ukraine leader is not a legally binding document for the participants of the political process. “It is more a moral commitment. What we need is a concrete mechanism and not a substitution of the Constitution with other documents,” Mr. Kravchuk summed up. In a word, prescriptions are at hand, although treatment has not yet been administered.