Quality of legislative reforms calls forth fear
The anguish Serhiy Tyhypko, acting chairman of the For a United Ukraine (UU) faction, felt last Friday on the eve of voting on parliamentary committees chairs and deputy chairs was, to some extent, well-founded. The people’s deputies supported the draft by a majority of 235, out of which only 89 represented UU. Under the deal made by the leaders of six factions, Mr. Tyhypko was to sacrifice the interests of almost a half of his faction to satisfy the appetite of Our Ukraine (OU). Ten of the twenty-five committees, including the budget one, were taken over by Viktor Yushchenko’s faction, seven by the Communists (with the economic policy committee given to Stanislav Hurenko), two by the Socialists and the Yuliya Tymoshenko bloc each, and one, environmental protection, by the Social Democrats (to be chaired by Ivan Ryzak).
Even King Solomon himself could not have helped the UU faction to divide the four remaining, but still very important, committees (on fuel and energy, finance and banking, transportation, and foreign affairs) among five group-based and one majoritarian contenders. Perhaps for this reason it was decided to distribute them not exactly fairly: finances and foreign affairs were given to Labor Ukraine (these committees will be headed, respectively, by Serhiy Buriak and Dmytro Tabachnyk, who has at last realized his interest in foreign policy). The Party of the Regions, already in charge of fuel and energy in the government, has also achieved a similar goal in parliament: Andriy Kliuyev was appointed chairman of the fuel and energy committee. Incidentally, deputies from the coal belt also took the quite prestigious offices of deputy chairmen of the budgetary, steering, and anti-corruption committees.
This kind of lineup was to be expected. But even the Agrarian and NDP factions, let alone the territorial deputies, could not hide their disappointment over the deals made by the Six. The soothing words that Valery Pustovoitenko, chairing the transport committee, and Liudmyla Suprun, one of the first deputy chairs of the budgetary committee, spoke to their “comrades” behind the scenes were of little effect. Almost half the NDP faction ignored the vote.
Still, the struggle for committee seats left an imprint on the opposition. It was the fate of the now defunct Four to solve rather a difficult problem of sharing power in the budget committee which, to quote a witty phrase of People’s Deputy Mykola Tomenko, “is worth the other nine.” The so-called opposition slaved over this problem all day long, often forcing Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn to adjourn the voting.
At first, Our Ukraine, the main contender for the budgetary committee, was challenged by Yuliya Tymoshenko, the immediate subordinate of Mr. Yushchenko during his premiership. As The Day came to learn, deputies from Donetsk oblast intervened in the wrangle, categorically turning down the lady born in the neighboring oblast. Word has it the infuriated Ms. Tymoshenko simply fled the negotiating table.
The most financial committee also wreaked quite a havoc with Our Ukraine itself. As many as three candidates — self-proclaimed reformer Viktor Pynzenyk, the symbol of financial solidarity Petro Poroshenko, and Rukh member who soon stood down — laid claim to the committee chairmanship. Rukh, which had been given some other offices as compensation, supported the removal of so-called oligarchs from budget matters in the person of Mr. Poroshenko. Mr. Pynzenyk and his closest entourage never turned up to vote.
The way the deputies vied for offices raises serious doubts about the quality of the legislative process. What crowned this supposed triumph of political logic in the parliament on June 8 was the appointment of Socialist Valentyna Semeniuk as chair of the privatization commission.
Asked by The Day, Mr. Tyhypko noted that the signing of a comprehensive agreement between United Ukraine and Our Ukraine would be the next stage in the formation of a majority. He said OU’s allegedly tough claims to government leadership are the most crucial problem at this stage of talks. “This will shatter the logic of entrusting the budget committee to an opposition faction. So this and some other committees will have to be given back.”
