Political System Must Be Modernized

On January 16 during his annual meeting with heads of diplomatic representatives accredited to Ukraine, President Leonid Kuchma made a series of fundamental statements. Ukraine’s foreign policy course, according to the head of state, will be kept within certain coordinates and based on the principles of consistency, predictability, and pragmatism. Concerning domestic policy, here President Kuchma mentioned as the key task of 2001 preserving the parliamentary majority and constructive relations between the president, government, and parliament.

“The role of the key, main vectors of this policy (domestic — Ed.) as earlier will remain Ukraine’s integration with Europe and development of relations of strategic partnership with the Russian Federation and the USA,” the president said. Moreover, he added, “Attention to cooperation with our neighbors, Poland, first of all, is increasing.” New was the statement, “It is difficult for us to accept lessons delivered condescendingly, pedantically, and particularly in the tone of a command... It would also be undesirable if economical, business relations become tainted with elements of becoming unnecessarily politicized, due to inadequate understanding of the situation in Ukraine, incompleteness or partiality, biased information about it, and also by unquestioning taking on trust the dubious, to put it mildly, techniques, initiated by some Ukrainian political outsider.”

Kuchma noted the importance of the “modernization of the political system,” particularly from the standpoint of increasing the role and responsibility of political parties and public organizations. In this connection he cited the importance of passing the laws on political parties and opposition, and making changes to the elections law, having promised he “will seek this systematically.”

In addition, the president stated he regarded as his primary task encouraging the cabinet to unite as a team of like-minded persons and professionals, who would systematically and methodically address economic and social issues.

Pres. Kuchma believes that the discord between political opponents has been alleviated, the situation became more stable, and Verkhovna Rada has moved from being a political battlefield and generator of impulses promoting instability in its decisions and actions toward cultivating a constructive atmosphere, predictability, and responsibility. Although “the unity of the parliamentary majority is experiencing serious trials, and both within and outside Verkhovna Rada we have a new buildup of tension.” In the president’s opinion, what is now happening only confirms that the past and the illusions of some politicians connected with it die hard.

Among the achievements of the last year the chief executive mentioned the best of all years fulfillment of Ukraine’s balanced budget. Timely approval of a balanced budget for 2001 along with an appreciable increase in direct foreign and domestic investment should consolidate these achievements. The head of state attributed the improvement of the lawmaking process to efforts made in the decisive spheres and emphasized the importance of fast passage of a series of codes, in particular those on taxes, the budget, and land.