“Handing the keys to a rich uncle is a mistake...”

“The major goal of the new Verkhovna Rada should be passing a law on reprivatization in the country,” President Leonid Kuchma told a March 19 press conference in Zaporizhzhia. According to Interfax-Ukraine, the president stressed that “many mistakes” were overlooked during previous sales. In part, as he put it, many new enterprise owners “literally finished them off” and later simply leave them. “If you are a bad owner it is time to give the plant back,” said Leonid Kuchma, adding, “There is a need for such an approach.” The president also criticized the privatization of the oblenerho regional electricity distributors. “To turn the keys over to some rich uncle is a mistake,” he said, recalling that energy distributors in France are one hundred percent state-owned. Mr. Kuchma suggested that we wait and see how the private-run oblenerho firms work as compared to the state-owned ones, “and then think it over.” He also called on those present “to hold their privatization horses” now that the world is facing an economic downturn. “There is no market for it now,” he said. “We will continue with the privatization, but we need to put our mind to what we are doing,” he stressed. When asked about the majority in the next parliament Mr. Kuchma opined that it can form only on the basis of the For a United Ukraine election bloc.