The task that cannot be accomplished
The ninth parliamentary session, the last for this convocation, opened in a surprisingly quiet manner. There were no huge rallies in front of the Verkhovna Rada last Wednesday morning, and no sensational speeches were heard from the rostrum. Even Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn’s welcoming speech, contrary to his tradition, was unusually brief, if not overly brusque. Later an unanimous verdict trickled out of the parliamentary corridors: despite his appeals not to politicize the already tense situation, Lytvyn spoke as the leader of his eponymously-named election bloc rather than as leader of Ukraine’s legislative body. Proof of this is his cutting remarks about Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov and his ministers, who were present in the session room. An interesting detail: while introducing the cabinet, Lytvyn said, “Yuriy Yekhanurov and his... er... government.” He also stumbled over the beginning and end of the phrase, clearly wishing to add the word “acting.”
Lytvyn began traditionally by praising himself, noting among other things that parliament managed to avoid the role of a “puppet entity.” Naturally, to avoid this role in the future, he promised to do his best “in deeds, not in words, and to adopt measures to prevent tapping administrative resources during the elections” despite the “large-scale discrimination campaign” that has been mounted against the Verkhovna Rada. When he said this, Lytvyn unambiguously squinted at the government’s seats, where Yekhanurov was enthusiastically perusing some documents. “Our objective is to forestall any spontaneous and deliberately created problems or uncivilized agitation,” Lytvyn added.
Lytvyn spelled out the main goals of the current session: to pass all the bills introduced by the president and the cabinet, as well as the bills vetoed by the head of state; ratify international agreements; revise the Budget Code; pass the laws on the Cabinet of Ministers, the president, referendums, and parliamentary rules of procedure; and demand that the cabinet provide a program of socioeconomic development for 2006 as soon as possible, so that parliament can begin making changes to this year’s budget. Another important detail is an appeal to MPs not to sign the documents “whose price is well known.” Apparently, he meant the Memorandum on Fair Elections that the president recently proposed. To counter this proposal, Lytvyn put forward one of his own: to form a parliamentary election monitoring commission headed by Ihor Yukhnovsky and Heorhiy Kriuchkov, the most senior MPs who are not running for a parliamentary seat. Prime Minister Yekhanurov later said politely in the corridors of the Verkhovna Rada that Lytvyn’s words were a tribute to the political situation, and that personal relations between them are still wonderful.
This may be true because when Yekhanurov was leaving, he gave Lytvyn a warm handshake. As he came out, he was immediately surrounded by TV cameras and mikes. The journalists asked questions about twice-dismissed Minister of Justice Serhiy Holovaty. The prime minister said that the cabinet hopes to settle this problem before Thursday, and government lawyers are studying the relevant Verkhovna Rada documents. In Yekhanurov’s view, parliament’s decisions are supposed to be implemented, but this case is unprecedented. At the moment it is impossible to appoint a new justice minister because there is no mechanism for this, the prime minister said.
It is very possible that President Yushchenko will offer his comments and proposals on this issue, as well as his vision of the current political situation in Ukraine, in his annual message to the Verkhovna Rada. Attending a book exhibition in the parliament building, Lytvyn said that this event, long awaited by many subjects of the political process, would take place on Thursday.
The ninth session is supposed to handle a total of 450 bills. Naturally, Ukrainian parliamentarians have serious doubts that they will be able to digest such a huge mass of documents, not the least because of the lack of time: the MPs only have three incomplete weeks at their disposal. “The forecast is simple: the session will be full of politicking,” said Leonid Kravchuk.
