Legislative battleground turns into minefield
The seventh session of Verkhovna Rada ended on Friday the thirteenth of July, and the finale turned out rather calm. Its results are impressive in terms of bills passed: 479 resolutions passing 174 bills; over 560 issues debated; eight draft codes deliberated; and the Criminal and Budget ones passed in toto. The Civil Code bill passed in its third reading (Book 1-3); the Commercial, Family, and Customs code bills passed in their second readings; a package of changes enacted in Ukrainian laws relating to judicial proceedings, judicial, and public prosecutor office reforms; and 91 bills already signed by the president.
However, neither the Left nor Right, nor even the Center expressed any pride in the parliament’s performance. Among the political results of the session, replacing the cabinet comes first, the more so that for the first time the government was brought down on Verkhovna Rada’s initiative. After the parliament found a suitable replacement for Viktor Yushchenko it became clear that from now on the premier had to curry favor with the Presidential Administration, come to terms with the factions, and reckon with what the legislature has in mind. It further became fairly clear which forces wanted things that way and which did not. A number of factions wanted their man as premier, but the fact that the post went to a man from a small faction (and not even its leader) shows that a deal always can be made, ambitions notwithstanding. Speaker Ivan Pliushch, however, believes that the situation preceding the Yushchenko cabinet’s fall and on the new government had a negative effect on the lawmaking process; a number of important codes, laws concerning Ukraine’s commitments toward the Council of Europe and judicial system never came up for consideration. Now, he says, time is needed to establish cooperation with the new cabinet. When asked why Yushchenko could not come to terms with the parliament, Pliushch offered no answer, just as he preferred not to comment on the time spent watching movies (related to the Gongadze case — Ed.) in the hall and the resultant legislative inactivity.
On the same day Prime Minister Kinakh expressed confidence that constructive and professional cooperation with Verkhovna Rada will be the cabinet’s unshakable priority and that such cooperation, now that the elections approach, “must not depend on a narrow political alignment of forces but be systematic, embracing all national and social priorities.”
Lawmakers regard the collapse of the majority as the main political problem. Communist Heorhy Kriuchkov told The Day, “This session like no other has shown that a parliamentary majority cannot be artificially created. Under our conditions this can be achieved only with the help of a system of proportional representation.” The creation of such a system has been impeded by the parties’ deficient development, as the president has frequently mentioned. Although supporters of the proportional system do not have a big enough majority in parliament to override a presidential veto, it is safe to assume that the session raised the matter of quality party building.
The issue of legislative support of the elections also leaves much to be desired. The chairman of the central election committee says that elections cannot be carried out using the current legal framework and is echoed by both the Left and Right. Failing to come to terms with the president, Verkhovna Rada is planting a time bomb under the next session, because the chief executive can always turn to the Constitutional Court. If he does — as Leonid Kravchuk predicted to The Day — the official circumlocution will be even more protracted. Whether a bomb squad will be found to disarm this mine is still anyone’s guess, for there are many more hotheads ready to solve the problem in one fell. Be it as it may, no one doubts that the next session will be dominated by the coming elections and attendant confrontations between various groups, primarily those outside the Left camp.
“This session shows that not a single resolution relating to the referendum was passed because of the political struggle with the president, not even resolutions that seemed perfectly logical,” The Day was told by Oleksandr Lavrynovych (NRU). He added that bungling the Land Code bill was also the result of political confrontation.
As for the economic aspects, parliament’s performance cannot be assessed uniformly. On the one hand, economic bills were confidently in the lead and statistics pointed to overall economic growth. On the other hand, Speaker Ivan Pliushch predicted that the 2002 budget bill would be adopted based on the old tax system. The tax code is still to be enacted, meaning no legislative breakthrough here, the more so that a number of economic solutions (e.g., Bank Ukrayina) will meet pitched resistance from popularity seeking politicians.
Important economic bills remaining on the agenda will certainly have political consequences during the next session, leaving a number of social problems hanging in the air. Parliamentary analysts predict, “ Verkhovna Rada will throw the Kinakh cabinet to the wolves,” and the names of the victims will most likely be known next March.
