Pres. Kuchma Upbeats on The Outgoing Year

This year’s last press conference of President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine lasted for over two hours. By tradition, the president devoted the greater part of his introductory speech to the preliminary socioeconomic results of this year. The final results will be announced in January 2004, Pres. Kuchma said.

TWO PROPHETS OF THE GOVERNMENT

In terms of the economy, 2003 was by far the best year, Pres. Kuchma believes. Yet, he listed the following problems that the cabinet and parliament should concentrate on (the more so that the latter, to quote the president, “is in fact pulling the economic levers”): structural deformations in the economy, ineffective environmental control, wear-out of capital goods, etc. In Pres. Kuchma’s opinion, the outgoing year revealed the ineffectiveness of the governmental price-forming policy in agriculture as well as fallaciousness of governmental macroeconomic forecasts. Although the tax law seems to be improving, budgetary arrears are on the rise, he noted. Ukrainian banks still remain unattractive for investment. Clearing wage arrears has practically ground to a halt, and common people’s incomes have taken a new plunge. The president also thinks there are a great many untapped reserves in foreign economic relations. There was an 80% rise in the import of foodstuffs, although the nation’s food output grew by 23% in the eleven months of the current year. “Who are we stimulating?” the President asked. He also added he heard no cabinet proposals about rectifying this situation. Asked if this criticism of the government was the sign of an early dismissal of the Yanukovych cabinet, Pres. Kuchma said, “Didn’t you hear me say it was the best year?”, thus disappointing those who perhaps thirsted for a political sensation. As to why Vitaly Haiduk, Vice Premier for the Fuel and Energy Complex, was recently dismissed, the president said the main reason was that Mr. Haiduk had aired his personal opinion on the international gas consortium. The consortium still remains on the agenda, and Ukraine is interested in a positive solution of this problem, the president noted. Pres. Kuchma also announced the fuel and energy situation will soon be discussed at a National Security and Defense Council session.

“WHITE ENVY”

The president was equally frank, if not brusque, in assessing this country’s foreign policy achievements. He said the European Union was “not quite sincere” when it stated that chances for Ukraine’s EU membership exclusively depend on Ukraine itself. He also reproached the United States for intending to go back on its promise to help this country dispose of solid rocket propellant. “The US made certain pledges about scrapping the launching silos, missiles, and propellant. We have hundreds of tons of propellant. Do we need another Chornobyl?” the president asked, noting that the G7 failed to meet the obligations it had taken on before the Chornobyl Power Plant was shut down. At the same time, the President noted some improvement in US-Ukrainian relations and said these relations should be raised again to the level of strategic partnership. Asked to comment on the results of parliamentary elections in Russia, Pres. Kuchma said, among other things, that he feels “white envy” for the Russians who “have received a stable situation for four years.” He also opined that, “playing on contradictions with Russia, Ukraine will hardly be able to win dividends in the West.” Incidentally, the president thinks that society and the political beau monde showed a positive reaction to the Tuzla conflict. Another positive thing is that the conflict showed there are no mechanisms to implement the guarantees Ukraine received after renouncing its nuclear status. “You see very well how they want to defend us,” Pres. Kuchma said, meaning the guarantor countries that signed a treaty on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. The president believes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should study the possibility of introducing mechanisms to implement the guarantees contained in this treaty. Why do the Russian pro-presidential forces oppose the Communists and even form special blocs of the Motherland type in order to rob them of as many votes as possible, while the Ukrainian pro-presidential parties enter into ad hoc alliances with the Communists and even offer them, according to KPU leader Petro Symonenko himself, “interesting cooperation schemes?” “If our interests coincide with those of the Communists in, say, the political reform, why should we reject their support?” the president told The Day’s correspondent. “On the other hand, the Russian Communists usually vote on all crucial points, proceeding from the national interests of Russia.” Asked by The Day if the parliamentary majority, which supported the head of state’s proposal to send a peacekeeping force to Liberia only at the third attempt, is prepared to be making decisions that promote Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic choice, the president said this vote showed who is who in this country and how he or she interprets the national interests. “What Ukraine needs is not a toy army but combat-ready units which acquire invaluable experience by accomplishing peacekeeping missions. Besides, we are interested in African markets. This is our long-term goal...” Pres. Kuchma also said.

“OR ELSE I MIGHT AGREE!”

“I look with fear at the next year in Ukraine. The common perception is we are going to see the most terrible and dirtiest elections,” Pres. Kuchma said, asked about the coming elections and the prospects of the political reform. There was again a traditional question whether the head of state will run once more for president. “If the elections take place in parliament, I will not be running,” Pres. Kuchma said and asked the media “not to lay it on thick” about his intentions. “Or else I might agree,” Pres. Kuchma joked.