When the traffic light on the street-corner facing my house go dark I understood that the EBRD convention was over and all the VIPs on their way home. Traditionally, the host and kitchen help now busily consume the leftovers after the guests go. No one knows exactly how much was left on the EBRD table, except for the Mercedes limousines that vanished into thin air. Let’s hope the cars were used for some noble purpose like replenishing the taxi fleet or providing transportation for an orphanage. I am not blaming anybody. But I have tax money in these cars, too.
Talking of taxes and budgets. Last week Vice Premier Serhiy Tyhypko made a sudden move that took everybody happily unawares. He declared that the government is prepared to finance a Deputy’s on-the-job training abroad to head the Parliament Budget Committee. Apparently, Mr. Tyhypko should have added something like, “So that things will be different than in the previous Parliament.”
The most gratifying event last week was the intrigue focused on the statements made by three centrist factions to the effect that they will not participate in the Speaker’s election if the candidates are party leaders. Lacking logic (then why bother building a “party structure” in Parliament?), this has a subtext. These statements sound very much like a polite response to the President who is now pressuring all he can, to prevent an unsavory character from becoming Speaker. The parties, concerned about their image, do not want to implement the presidential policy directly and resort to various dodges. I said “concerned about their image,” but I meant that the party system is beginning to function.
The longest-playing development of the week (in terms of lasting consequences) was the commencement of Constitutional Court proceedings concerning the most popular method of struggle between power branches with Deputies voting several times for or against the same bill and the President doing the same with his veto. As a result, laws not wanted by either never take effect. So far the matter under study is formulated as parliamentary transgressions. If the Constitutional Court passes judgment only on parliamentary practice the President will receive a crucial advantage. Chief Justice Ivan Tymchenko stated last Thursday that the President’s habit of multiple vetoes will be taken into account. Be it as it may, after the ruling Parliament and the President will have to look for other blunt instruments to apply against one another.






