Majority Takes Budget Bait
The parliamentary majority, which finally decided on November 1 to vote for the budget in the first reading, kept its word by pretending for the time being that it does not exist. On November 2, the session room information board flashed 268 ayes. Those who objected to passing the budget in the first reading were only the Yabluko (Apple) faction (15 votes), some independent deputies, and the Communists. Over a hundred deputies simply did not take part. Chairman of the Budget Committee Oleksandr Turchynov stepped down from the rostrum with the feeling of having done his duty and began to give interviews. He was followed by dozens of influential deputies who had left their voting cards under the supervision of their faction colleagues. So the main battles over the destiny of the budget, the government, and the majority have been postponed until the second reading to be held two weeks later.
It was surprisingly calm in Verkhovna Rada on November 2. Oleksandr Volkov smiled, other deputies were also in a good mood. Earlier rumors from some “parliamentary sources” about the formation of a new majority by means of an alliance between some of the current majority members with the Left looked like a nightmare after an all too heavy supper. The attempts by the Left to organize something like a heated debate in the hall before the vote resembled the behavior of a new contender for a boxing championship title, who, before being knocked down in the very first round, makes bellicose statements and awesomely knits his brows.
Oleksandr KARPOV, parliamentary majority coordinator, was the first to comment on passing the budget in the first reading: “There is a special procedure for discussing the budget. The first-reading procedure does not envision voting on a document proposed by the Cabinet of Ministers. This document is only a point of departure for Verkhovna Rada which then prepares its own proposals and conclusions, with due account of suggestions from the deputies and fractions. This is why we have voted today on the Budget Committee’s proposals and conclusions which fundamentally differ from what the government had proposed. The resolution passed means that now, accordingly, the Cabinet is obliged to proceed, together with the Budget Committee, from what Verkhovna Rada adopted. The bait (a good name for the Cabinet’s bill) will have changed its logic in parliament by the second reading of the draft budget.”
Majority deputies looked satisfied by and large and made optimistic statements. Oleksandr LAVRYNOVYCH, representing Rukh (Udovenko), noted, “The Verkhovna Rada majority has won the opportunity to settle still unsettled issues and thus show quite clearly that the living organism of the parliamentary majority does exist. This also raises problems. When it comes to conceptual problems of national importance, the majority is able to make decisions, which will help keep economic reforms and the budget-passing process going forward.”
Petro POROSHENKO, Solidarity leader, has also expressed his viewpoint on the majority’s unanimity over the draft budget: “Experience has confirmed that our parliamentary group had taken a correct stand, and, as a result, the budget passed. Instead of signing any kind of agreement, we have put forward a few additional proposals to the Budget Committee and can now say with pleasure that these proposals were in part taken into account. The dialogue continues.”
