Another Agreement or a New Model?

The cabinet and the parliamentary majority, jointly with President Kuchma, signed a political agreement on cooperation and joint responsibility. The signatories were Premier Viktor Yanukovych, Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, and the leaders of nine factions and groups of the majority (e.g., Regions of Ukraine, Peasants of Ukraine, etc). Addressing those present after the ceremony of signing the agreement, Leonid Kuchma said the document marked a stage in the development of a new system of interrelationship between the majority and government, and that now the cabinet’s performance would be closely followed. “The attainments of mistakes of the new government will now be under the microscope of society; they will be assessed as evidence of the efficiency or inefficiency of the new administrative model we are working out: parliamentary majority plus coalition government,” said the head of state, as reported by The Day’s Natalia Trofimova.