A union on Mykhailivska Street

The MPs entered the new plenary week with old proposals. Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Rybak once again notified that President Viktor Yanukovych is ready to meet with the opposition in the next few days. The oppositionists continue to insist that the head of state should be present personally in parliament where he has to read at last his annual address. “The main question of the mediation council is whether Yanukovych will come to the Verkhovna Rada and whether the so-called majority will go on another extra-mural session to resolve their own questions,” Batkivshchyna faction member Viacheslav Kyrylenko wrote yesterday on his Twitter page.

After conversation with representatives of both camps, it seems the session in the parliament hall will take place.

“I haven’t heard any public announcements about blocking,” Party of Regions’ Oleh Zarubinsky said in his commentary to The Day. “Only Yatseniuk mentioned about some conditions to which the Speaker answered that no conditions can be put forward because the work of the Verkhovna Rada is regulated by the Constitution. It seemed to me most of people in the committees understand that ultimatums regarding the work of the Verkhovna Rada or stoppages in its work is a way that leads to nowhere. A parliamentary minority cannot demand from others to vote for what they want. Such thing does not exist anywhere. Truth be told, all the questions concerning blocking are artificial enough, and the vast majority of the mediation council are aware of this.”

“Blocking is also a part of the work of the parliament, an attempt to find a way-out from the situation,” says Batkivshchyna faction member Serhii Soboliev, “Hopefully, the parliament will work. We demand to remove the question of bank-bills from the agenda. All the more so they have already failed in parliament. We demand to put for consideration the questions connected with the European integration, combating corruption, scheduling the elections in districts for autumn, as it was expected, and defining the date for Kyiv mayor and city council elections. We are also still waiting for the meeting with the president in parliament. We are looking for a compromise.”

Mutual understanding has been reached in Batkivshchyna after all. Last Saturday Kyiv hosted a Unifying Congress of the United Opposition “Batkivshchyna.” Its major aim was to unite the parties Batkivshchyna, Front of Changes, Reforms and Order, and parts of the People’s Movement. Let’s go into more detail on this topic.

First, let’s analyze the tactical question: who absorbed whom?

“When at the last elections eight parties were going together to the elections, when leaders and senior management practically left their parties, nobody spoke about absorbing,” Serhii Soboliev answers, “Moreover, on the eve of the elections an agreement was written about the need to unite in the future. Therefore what has just happened was fulfillment of the election promises. If we view this merging from the viewpoint of Tymoshenko, Yatseniuk, or anyone else, we won’t find an answer to the question. Someone has more power in certain question, another one – more power in another question. We have gotten accustomed that it is bad when party members criticize each other, but no, this is a normal functioning of an organism. I am sure that the merging was beneficial for the opposition and the country on the whole.”

What does a representative of the power think? “I would characterize this union as ‘arsenization’ of Batkivshchyna,” says Zarubinsky, “Based on all the commentaries and insider information, I conclude that namely this kind of thing happened. Will they become stronger? When there was an association that Tymoshenko fulfilled all functions of the leader, it was one kind of situation, but when Yatseniuk became the head of political council, this is a completely different situation. These personalities are not equitable. Everyone understands pretty well who Yatseniuk is. For me he is quite a funny character.”

Secondly, a more in-depth, strategic question is what tasks is the Ukrainian society facing now? And what tasks is the current opposition facing, if it considers itself a modern opposition? It should be paid its due that the main tasks have been outlined in the Ideological Manifesto of Batkivshchyna during the ceremonial congress of the party. Among others, it includes the following positions:

♦ Ukraine as an integral part of the Euro-Atlantic civilization must become a full-fledged member of the European Union in foreseeable historical prospect.

♦ Ukrainian language must be the only state language. Its official status cannot be merely a slogan with a solely declarative nature.

♦ We believe that the Holodomor was genocide against the Ukrainian people.”