http://www.pravda.com.ua/_site/_pic/up_88.gifhttp://www.pravda.com.uahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/independent political Internet-publishinghttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9604.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:32:00 +0200Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense Bloc (NU-NS) member, Ivan Stoyko, urges Ivan Plyushch to give up his deputy mandate.Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense Bloc (NU-NS) member, Ivan Stoyko, urges Ivan Plyushch to give up his deputy mandate. “If Mr. Plyushch refused to sign the coalition agreement and vote for the Verkhovna Rada Speaker and Prime Minister, he has no moral right to rank with our political force.”In Mr. Stoyko’s view, the Law on the Imperative Mandate should have been used towards Mr. Plyushch despite his age and experience. However, the dissenter may only be expelled from the faction because the Law is not yet in force. Then he will be able to vote at random thus shaking the slim democratic majority. Mr. Stoyko claims that the only solution to such situations is adoption of the Law on the Imperative Mandate. At the same time, another NU-NS member, Taras Stestkiv thinks that Mr. Plyushch will unlikely leave the faction himself: “He is a man who did not get the office and felt hurt.”Mr. Stestkiv insists that Mr. Stestkiv should be expelled from the faction because he “discredited it”. He agrees, however, that there is no legal expulsion mechanism so far.“The Constitutional Court only began considering the issue regarding the imperative mandate. Mr. Plyushch should beware of this.”Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Irena Yakovinahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9603.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:30:00 +0200Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense Bloc (NU-NS) leader, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko claims that the faction in a body will participate in a Tuesday re-vote for Yulia Tymoshenko’s premiershipOur Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense Bloc (NU-NS) leader, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko claims that the faction in a body will participate in a Tuesday re-vote for Yulia Tymoshenko’s premiership.“Our faction will be consolidated during the Tuesday re-vote both on the PM and the Cabinet. Problems regarding the issue were exaggerated.”Mr. Kyrylenko stressed that “the re-vote will be made by MPs standing up in the Verkhovna Rada session hall”.“This is an unprecedented event because the Ukrainian Parliament has never done so.”The faction insists that a Communist Party member should not be nominated for the first deputy speaker. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Irena Yakovinahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9602.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:26:00 +0200President Viktor Yushchenko supports the change of the parliamentary procedure regarding the vote for the PM, taking into account the failure of the Rada voting system. President Viktor Yushchenko supports the change of the parliamentary procedure regarding the vote for the PM, taking into account the failure of the Rada voting system. He claims that it meets the democratic standards. “Clear and open procedure of a vote for the PM will ensure an unambiguous result. The vote procedure should be perfect and unquestionable,” Mr. Yushchenko said. In regards to the roll-call vote the President said:“The example of mature democracies show that such an approach is the best solution to the clash.”“The Verkhovna Rada in which the coalition has a slight advantage and the level of distrust between the majority and minority is great the open vote will ease tension and dispel suspicion,” the President stressed and added that this will help Ukraine’s parliamentary system gain a new experience.Mrs. Yushchenko welcomed the Verkhovna Rada’s decisions which will unblock the work of the high legislative body. In his view, after several rounds of negotiations, MPs developed quite an actual plan which considers positions of all parliamentary political forces. The Head of State hopes that it will be carried out on Tuesday. It is widely known that on December 11 MPs failed to elect Yulia Tymoshenko for PM. The re-vote was scheduled for December 18. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Irena Yakovinahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9601.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:20:00 +0200Verkhovna Rada MPs distributed parliamentary committees’ top officesVerkhovna Rada MPs distributed parliamentary committees’ top offices.The main distribution principle is: if a committee head belongs to the parliamentary majority, offices of his first deputy and secretary are given to the minority and vice versa. The Party of Regions promises to nominate its members for the committees by Monday night. MPs agree that Verkhovna Rada Speaker deputies should be considered at 3:00 PM Tuesday. In addition, MPs discussed a procedure of the roll-call vote for the PM. The issue will be considered by the Accounts Commission on Monday.Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Irena Yakovinahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9600.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:06:00 +0200Kyiv mayor Leonid Chernovetsky promotes the appointment of heads of Kyiv district state administrations by the mayor. Kyiv mayor Leonid Chernovetsky promotes the appointment of heads of Kyiv district state administrations by the mayor. He said it on air of municipal TV company “Kyiv” on December 14, report Ukrainian News. “I offered the President to make amendments to the law on the capital so that I could appoint the heads of districts and bear responsibility,” said Mr. Chernovetsky. He claimed that President Viktor Yushchenko promised him to submit a respective law draft to the Verkhovna Rada. The mayor believes that if he appoints heads of district state administrations he can be assured of their reliability and will have their support. Besides, in his opinion, the dismissal of Dniprovsky district state administration head Oleksandr Sotnykov and removal from duties of the heads of three more districts – Podilsky, Desnyansky and Svyatoshinsky – initiated by the President strengthened his authority among the heads of other districts. According to previous reports, on December 13 Mr. Yushchenko dismissed Oleksandr Sotnykov from the post of Dniprovsky district state administration head and also removed from duties the heads of Desnyansky district state administration Yuriy Zakharychev, Svyatoshinsky district state administration Volodymyr Mazepa and Podilsky district state administration Yevhen Romanenko. The heads of Kyiv district state administrations are appointed by the President according to the petition of Kyiv mayor. The person elected by district council is appointed the head of council. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Anna Ivanchenkohttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9599.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:05:00 +0200Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense MP Taras Stetskyv predicts that the current President Viktor Yushchenko will be nominated as the only candidacy from NU-NS and BYuT coalition for the next presidential election. Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense MP Taras Stetskyv predicts that the current President Viktor Yushchenko will be nominated as the only candidacy from NU-NS and BYuT coalition for the next presidential election. He said it in an interview to Delo newspaper, report Ukrainian News. Mr. Stetskyv believes that if Mrs. Tymoshenko becomes Prime Minister the democratic forces will nominate a sole candidate for presidential elections. “It will be Viktor Yushchenko,” replied the MP to the question who it is going to be. According to previous reports, Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense MP Ihor Kril expressed his conviction that Mr. Yushchenko will defeat BYuT faction leader Yulia Tymoshenko during the presidential election of 2010 in case they participate. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Anna Ivanchenkohttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/17/9598.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:04:00 +0200Ukraine should pursue a stricter budget policy and aim for a balanced budget for 2008 – with a zero deficit or a small proficit. Ukraine should pursue a stricter budget policy and aim for a balanced budget for 2008 – with a zero deficit or a small proficit. This opinion was expressed in an interview to Kommersant-Ukraine by an adviser of IMF European Department Robert Ford who had been the head of International monetary fund mission studying the state of Ukrainian economy starting from December 11. He said that the mission held negotiations with the board of National Bank and with President’s Secretariat, met the speaker and also middle-rank officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy. “We are going to review our forecasts on the basis of conclusions we drew during our visit and of changes, which took place in the economic plane for the reason of gas price hike (from USD 130 to USD 179.5 per thousand cubic meters). Moreover, we are going to come here again in the beginning of next year to carry out consultations pursuant to Article 4 of IMF Agreement. Until that time we may have a new forecast,” said Mr. Ford. When talking about the way state budget of Ukraine for 2008 should be, he said: “Now inflation is the main problem. We believe that the development of this problem was partially triggered by a very quick rise of demand from the side of internal consumers. It is necessary to tame it and lower it to a more acceptable level.” “One should pursue a stricter budget policy and aim for a balanced budget for 2008 – with either a zero deficit or a small proficit,” added Mr. Ford. Besides, in his opinion, Ukraine should switch “to a flexible exchange rate regime”, which means the possibility of its fluctuation in both directions while “anchoring to euro or currency basket” will not change the situation. When discussing if the new government should refuse from external lends, Mr. Ford noted: “We advise the Cabinet of Ministers to implement measures for extending the internal capital market with the help of different methods. In particular, they should refuse from imposing a tax on currency operations and instead opt for stock market development and bigger volume of internal governmental lending obligations.” When answering the question what will be the consequences of paying 50 billion hryvnyas worth of debt of the USSR savings bank in the course of two years, Mr. Ford stressed that “it is a political decision, and the government is fully responsible for it”, but in this case “it is necessary to approach it [return of savings] in a very responsible way so that it does not trigger the growth of fiscal deficit and inflation acceleration.” At the same time, when asked to estimate the influence of political crisis associated with the change of government on the economy of Ukraine, IMF representative noted: “I would not call it a crisis. It is democracy in action. One cannot see yet that it has hampered the development of economy in any way. Moreover, during this period the economy demonstrates good growth results.” Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Anna Ivanchenkohttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/16/9596.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:30:00 +0200President Viktor Yushchenko does not concede dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada in case it fails to form the government on time.President Viktor Yushchenko does not concede dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada in case it fails to form the government on time.“Unfortunately, the Constitution prohibits it,” he said in an interview with 5 Kanal.He has noted that in such a case it will be necessary to return to the talks.“I am now thinking over the ways to guarantee fruitful work of parliament if it fails to vote for the presidium, parliamentary committees and the Prime Minister,” said Mr. Yushchenko. He has pointed out that he will support participation of Lytvyn Bloc in formation of a coalition.“I think that proposals of Lytvyn Bloc can become consolidating element in the high culture of the political talks and new level of governmental relations,” said the President. Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Eugene Ivantsovhttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/16/9597.htmPoliticsSun, 16 Dec 2007 00:18:00 +0200A young BYuT lawmaker Viktor Ukolov warned the faction of the conspiracy theory. Supposedly, everything said at the session was being taped and then would be made public by the journalists. “Guys, we are an honest democratic party. We have nothing to conceal,” Mr. Turchynov calmed him down.Original article in Ukrainian by Serhiy Leshchenko, Mustafa Nayem, UPTranslated by Eugene IvantsovOrdinary MPs of the Party of Regions (PRU) have been recently coming to work an hour earlier than required.The lawmakers enter am empty session hall showing that they are the masters. The PRU MPs occupy the speaker’s seat. Less ambitious lawmakers go to the seats reserved for the government members. Mr. Yanukovych’s brothers-in-arms are getting ready for a blockade. One MP blocks the door to the presidium with the chair so that Mr. Yatsenyuk will not be able to take his seat. “Look, why are you doing it? Anyway, he will enter the session hall,” a young MP asks his more experienced colleague who participated in the blockade of the last convocation. “There will be a lot of journalists and TV cameras. Let them see that we will never surrender to the Orange!” he answered accompanied by a roar of laughter. Meanwhile, the BYuT was holding a session in the parliament’s cellar. The party discussed possible ways of opposing the minority. A young BYuT lawmaker Viktor Ukolov warned the faction of the conspiracy theory. Supposedly, everything said at the session was being taped and then would be made public by the journalists.“Guys, we are an honest democratic party. We have nothing to conceal,” Mr. Turchynov calmed him down. He was leading the session on that day  because Yulia Tymoshenko was not there. He said that he was bored with the blockade of the Verkhovna Rada. “It is possible that voting for the PM will be held under extreme conditions,” said Mr. Turchynov.The formal reason why the Verkhovna Rada cannot vote for the PM is uncertainty about parliamentary committees. Our Ukraine is also bored with the never-ending talks with the PRU. Roman Zvarych described one typical day of these negotiations:“We are waiting for two or three hours for Mykola Azarov. Then he comes. We make him our offer. He refuses to accept it. Then we offer to exchange the committees. Mr. Azarov usually says: “I need to talk to the faction and the PM.” We ask: “Where is the PM?” It turns out that he is out of the city. And it goes all over and over again…”The BYuT was also angry with the Donetsk-based party. According to sources of Ukrayinska Pravda, the faction even considered radical solutions to go back on the prior agreement of sharing in half 28 parliamentary committees between the coalition and the opposition. “We will refuse to talk to them. They may forget about sharing 14 to 14! We are ready to compromise but they get carried away. We will vote then for the government and share committees in the same way they shared them in 2006 when we received only leftovers,” said one of the BYuT members. MPs were having a tedious time in the session hall. Yanukovych’s son is stretching.The PRU MPs seemed to have learned about such cruel intentions of the BYuT.They forced Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the conciliatory council to promise that sharing of the committees would be considered only if agreed with all parliamentary factions.Mr. Turchynov told his faction that the PRU was dragging out the voting because the party knew that the President intended to fly to Switzerland for a medical treatment. As such, Mr. Yushchenko had to go to Geneva with one of Our Ukraine MPs that could result in the failed voting for the coalition. Indeed, Mr. Yushchenko was said to take his brother to Geneva but the latter stayed in Ukraine. “Our president has left. I think he will come back on Tuesday or Wednesday,” said Viktor Baloha’s cousin and one of the MPs who refused to sign the coalition agreement Vasyl Petyovka. He showed up in the lobby with the face of a man who got sick and tired of the entire coalition fuss. Uncertainty irritated the PRU members. Having gathered in the smoking-room they jokingly asked rivals to have a rest on weekend.“Listen, Garik. Let’s end this circus. Call your guys off and let’s meet on Tuesday,” PRU member Yevhen Geller addressed Garegin Artyunov from the BYuT.“Ah, it is fun...let’s keep going,” Mr. Artyunov returned the joke. “Vote for our Yulia and we can go home. There is no problem about that!” he added. Mrs. Tymoshenko was ready to go through another voting for her candidature only if MPs vote by raising their hands.There was an incident in the Verkhovna Rada that place Rada electronic voting system in doubt. Hardly had Arseniy Yatsenyuk closed the session when computer terminal of the PRU member Dmytro Prytyrka broke down. “I was about to leave when smoke ejected from my terminal. It smelled burning,” recalled Mr. Prytyrka.After that the Rada system was tested. The results were not very good. From time to time electronic voting cards did not work at different terminals. Only terminals in the communists’ sector were fail-safe. Adam Martynyuk was happy. But he had a different reason to feel happy. It looks like he can become the First Vice Speaker again.Mr. Yanukovych preferred Adam Martynyuk to Rayisa Bohatyryova. It is the second time the PRU refused to support her candidature for the post of the First Vice Speaker. Bohatyryova’s brothers-in-arms suckered her againMr. Yanukovych’s closest ally Anton Pryhodsky explained such a choice in the following way:“We owe the Communist Party…they used to be our partners.”Communists have joined the ‘bargaining’ and began playing their own game. Their consent to voting for the PM by raising hands proves it. In fact, change of the voting procedure is the main victory of the BYuT.This form of voting is half of the victory for Yulia Tymoshenko.The decision to support such form of the voting became a surprise for ordinary members of the Communist Party. “I do not back this decision. I am an engineer and I know that the Rada system is working properly,” said Alla Aleksandrovska.“Indeed, I supported this decision. But to tell the truth, I was disgusted to do it,” added another communist Petro Tsybenko.Volodymyr Lytvyn warned that change of the voting procedure would open Pandora’s Box.“The PRU lawmakers will come tomorrow with 150 signatures and say that MPs have to vote by jumping. Everybody will jump. There is no other choice,” Mr. Lytvyn mocked at other factions. Anyway, Arseniy Yatsenyuk gained his little victory. He had all five parliamentary factions set their signatures under the Tuesday agenda.Thus, all political forces in parliament agreed to vote for the PM first on Tuesday.by Serhiy Leshchenko, Mustafa Nayem.jpg;image/jpeg;112x112http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/15/9594.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:15:00 +0200The Party of Regions (PRU) claims that it will not return to the parliament agenda unless it receives excuses from the opposition for accusing the former of having interfered, first, with the work of the parliament electronic system and, secondly, with pressing for their candidate for the first vice speaker.The Party of Regions (PRU) claims that it will not return to the parliament agenda unless it receives excuses from the opposition for accusing the former of having interfered, first, with the work of the parliament electronic system and, secondly, with pressing for their candidate for the first vice speaker.This is stated in the message distributed by PRU on Friday morning.“We reiterate that we will not let ourselves be slandered. Therefore, we insist on public apologies,” is said in it.“Our second condition is proportional distribution of parliamentary committees and election of our candidate as the first vice speaker,” maintains PRU.“We consider it impossible to proceed to other items of the agenda if our demands are ignored,” is underlined in the message.At the same time, PRU points out that on Thursday a group of experts failed to find any trace of alien interference with the work of the electronic system.“It means that the Tuesday unavailing PM vote was all according to the rules,” it is said.“Any accusation of the PRU faction is calumnious and brutally provocative, it is demonstrating an effort to make our political force responsible for the instable coalition,” is stressed in the message.On Tuesday, only one vote was missing to make Mrs. Tymoshenko the PM.The coalition representatives formerly accused PRU of interfering with the work of the electronic system and applied to the Security service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office asking for an expertise. The agencies, though, reported the absence of any outer intrusion.Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Yelizaveta Badanovahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/14/9593.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:51:00 +0200Voting for the PM and the government will take place on Tuesday. Voting for the PM and the government will take place on Tuesday. This decision adopted by a conciliatory council was made public by the Verkhovna Rada Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk.Formation of the parliamentary committees is scheduled on Tuesday as well.translated by Eugene Ivantsovhttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/14/9592.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:12:00 +0200The issue of Plushch’s exclusion from Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense faction will be reviewed after the government's formation. The issue of Plushch’s exclusion from Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense faction will be reviewed after the government's formation. Radio Svoboda was so informed by a NU-NS representative Yuriy Kostenko. “Yes, some MPs were in favor of immediate review of this situation in the faction. I mean the fact that Ivan Stepanovych didn’t vote [for the candidacy of Yulia Tymoshenko for the post of Prime Minister],” he confirmed. “But the head of faction Vyacheslav Kyrylenko offered to return to this issue and discuss it substantially only after the government is formed,” related Mr. Kostenko. According to previous reports, Mr. Plushch did not vote for Tymoshenko’s candidacy for the post of Prime Minister on Tuesday and was also refusing to sign an agreement on creating a coalition of BYuT and NU-NS, insisting on creating a wide coalition with the Party of Regions. After voting for Tymoshenko, which brought no results, NU-NS representatives claimed that the bloc will review the issue of excluding Mr. Plushch from the faction and depriving him of MP authority. At the same time, they indicated certain difficulties associated with this decision as the respective procedure is not precisely described in Ukrainian legislation. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Anna Ivanchenkohttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/14/9591.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:11:00 +0200On Thursday the names of politicians who can be heads of the Prosecutor General’s Office, and tax and customs services became known. On Thursday the names of politicians who can be heads of the Prosecutor General’s Office, and tax and customs services became known. According to Delo newspaper with reference to “reliable sources in parliament”, the State Customs Service can be headed by Inter TV channel owner Valeriy Horoshkovsky. “The struggle for posts of heads of customs and tax services between BYuT and President’s Secretariat lasted until the last moment,” notes the publication. “The interest of the head of the [President’s] secretariat, Viktor Baloha, in these posts is obvious. However, Yulia Tymoshenko also laid claim to the Customs Service from the beginning planning to revive her ‘Stop Smuggling’ program of 2005,” runs the article. “Tymoshenko may have agreed to the candidacy of Horoshkovsky in exchange for other posts for her people. For example, she bargained for the post of the head of tax administration for MP and banker Serhiy Buryak. However, it may well be that the Inter owner is a member of her team as well,” assumes the publication. The publication notes that according to previous reports, Mr. Horoshkovsky aspired to one of the economic posts in executive power. Until March 2007, Horoshkovsky was working as the first deputy secretary of the National Council of Security and Defense. “That is why it may well be that it is this candidacy that suited the President,” writes the publication. “If Valeriy Horoshkovsky agrees, I can only congratulate him. He worked as Minister of Economy, and manager of a huge business empire. He is an interesting and predictable person,” believes BYuT MP Serhiy Teryokhin. According to Delo’s information, BYuT MP Serhiy Buryak, who is to head State Tax Administration, previously headed the Verkhovna Rada committee on the issues of finance and banking activities also dealing with tax policy for four years. Until the last moment, his younger brother Oleksandr Buryak was aspiring for this post, notes the publication. The candidacy for the post of Prosecutor General is to be proposed by the People’s Self-Defense MP group. At its session, the candidacy of Viktor Shemchuk was approved. In Our Ukraine, which is a part of NU-NS bloc along with People’s Self-Defense, Mr. Shemchuk is primarily supported by young MPs. “Shemchuk deserves this post because of his hard work,” believes Mykola Katerynchuk. At the same time, MPs close to the President and his secretariat allow other candidacies for this post as options. “Stretovych and Moysyk are also possible,” supposed Liliya Hryhorovych. However, a source of Delo in NU-NS noted that President’s Secretariat still hasn’t intervened in the discussion of candidacy for future Prosecutor General. “There is a certain arrangement. If it is violated, it will cause a chain reaction,” noted the MP. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Anna Ivanchenkohttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/14/9590.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:10:00 +0200The Party of Regions faction is ready to propose the candidacy of Rayisa Bohatyryova for the post of first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada, stated the party representative Yaroslav Sukhiy. The Party of Regions faction is ready to propose the candidacy of Rayisa Bohatyryova for the post of first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada, stated the party representative Yaroslav Sukhiy. “If they [Communist Party faction] take away their candidacy [Adam Martynyuk for the post of first vice speaker], we are ready to propose Rayisa Vasylivna Bohatyryova or… well, who the faction chooses,” said the MP on air of the First National TV Channel. He stressed that the Party of Regions hasn’t discussed yet which candidacy it is going to propose for this post, and most probably it will reach a decision at a faction meeting on Friday morning on December 14, reports UNIAN. “We hope that Adam Ivanovych [Martynyuk] will opt-out,” said Mr. Sukhiy. Meanwhile, Mr. Sukhiy claimed that his faction will insist on package voting for first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada and deputy head of parliament. He also noted that the Party of Regions intends to insist on package voting for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. “We’ll insist on this to be in a package with voting for government,” he said. According to Mr. Sukhiy, his political force is no less interested in speedy formation of government than are the others. “One shouldn’t do it like this – we choose a Prime Minister and do not choose a new government. It’s all monkey business then,” the agency cites the MP. Earlier, the Party of Regions representative Nestor Shufrych claimed that the Party of Regions insists on electing Mr. Martynyuk as the first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada. The statement about Mr. Martynyuk being the only candidate from the Party of Regions and the Communist Party was also voiced by the Party of Regions faction MPs Olena Bondarenko and Hanna Herman. In particular, Mrs. Herman substantiated it in the following way: “the decision of three factions is the decision of three factions – and we must be disciplined and not let down our partners,” though admitting that she personally would have supported Bohatyryova’s candidacy. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Anna Ivanchenkohttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/14/9595.htmPoliticsFri, 14 Dec 2007 11:06:00 +0200On December 14 President Viktor Yushchenko took part in flower laying ceremonies near memorials “To Warriors of Chernobyl” and “To Heroes of Chernobyl” which were held on the occasion of the Day of honoring liquidators of Chernobyl disaster.Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, President’s Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha, Chairman of the Kyiv Regional State Administration Vira Ulyanchenko, Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky, First Deputy Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaichenko and other officials were also present at the arraignments.In his address Mr. President rendered homage to those brave men who died saving their native land and humanity from terrible consequences of Chornobyl disaster. “We shall eternally keep in our hearts blessed memory of the 20th century nuclear apocalypse victims. Chornobyl shall never become a thing of the past for us”, he said.Photos by Mykola Lazarenko, the president's press service.jpg;image/jpeg;112x112http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/14/9589.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:05:00 +0200Factions of the BYuT and NU-NS insist on electing the PM on Friday, stated the Verkhovna Rada Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk.Factions of the BYuT and NU-NS insist on electing the PM on Friday, stated the Verkhovna Rada Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk.“As to election of the PM, I want to remind that the Verkhovna Rada still has the president’s submission for Yulia Tymoshenko’s candidature for the position of the PM. Article 200 of the Regulations stipulates that this submission has to be considered within a 5-day term,” stated Mr. Yatsenyuk.“Given the circumstances, we must consider this issue today, because this 5-day term ends on Sunday. If we do not consider this issue today we can formally postpone it for Tuesday. However, the BYuT and NU-NS factions insist that the submission should be considered today,” said the VR Speaker.   According to Mr. Yatsenyuk, the two factions insist on changes in the voting procedure. At the same time, such changes must comply with the Regulations and other procedural norms.Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainian translated by Eugene Ivantsovhttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/12/9588.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:44:00 +0200A Wednesday plenary session will not begin, according to Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc leader Yosyp VinskyA Wednesday plenary session will not begin, according to Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc leader Yosyp Vinsky. The decision was made by five faction leaders.Mr. Visky confirmed that Speaker Yatsenyuk did not take part in the Wednesday sitting of the faction leaders. On Thursday the Verkhvovna Rada will begin with a conciliatory session in which leaders will decide whether to convene a plenary session taking into account the Party of Regions’ blockade of the parliamentary rostrum.For the time being the faction leaders are working at the blockade reversal and preparing documents regarding the parliamentary committees’ structure. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Irena Yakovinahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/12/9587.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:12:00 +0200President Viktor Yushchenko submitted Yulia Tymoshenko’s candidacy for PM for the second time. President Viktor Yushchenko submitted Yulia Tymoshenko’s candidacy for PM for the second time. He did so at 9:00 AM Wednesday according to the Ukrainian Constitution.On Tuesday night Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk officially submitted to the President the deputy factions’ proposal regarding a re-vote on Mrs. Tymoshenko. Source: Ukrayinska PravdaSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Irena Yakovinahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/12/9586.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:35:00 +0200On Tuesday, a draft resolution on the future Cabinet composition was distributed among MPs at the evening parliamentary session.On Tuesday, a draft resolution on the future Cabinet composition was distributed among MPs at the evening parliamentary session.The document has been drawn up by Mrs. Tymoshenko, Interfax-Ukraine reports.According to the draft resolution, Oleksandr Turchynov is proposed for the first vice PM.Ivan Vasyunyk, Yosyp Vinsky and Hryhoriy Hemyrya are to be nominated Vice PMs.Tariel Vasadze, Vasyl Vovkun, Bohdan Danylyshyn, Ludmyla Denysova, Yuriy Yekhanurov, Vasyl Knyazevych and Vasyl Kremin are proposed for the posts of the Minister of Transport, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Minister of Economy, Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Minister of Defense, Minister of Health and Minister of Education and Science respectively.    Nominations of Petro Krupko as Minister of the Cabinet, Vasyl Kuybida as Minister of Regional Development and Construction, Oleksiy Kucherenko as Minister of Housing, Yuriy Lutsenko as Minister of Interior Affairs, Yuriy Melnyk as Minister of Agricultural Policy, Volodymyr Novytsky as Minister of Industrial Policy, and Mykola Onishchuk as Minister of Justice are provided for in the resolution.Volodymyr Ohryzko is to be nominated Minister of Foreign Affairs whereas Yuriy Pavlenko, Viktor Pinzenyk, Viktor Poltavets, Yuriy Prodan, Heorhiy Fylypchuk, and Volodymyr Shandra are proposed for offices of Minister of Family, Youth and Sport, Minister of Finance, Minister of Coal Industry, Minister of Fuel and Energy, Minister of Environment, Minister of Emergencies respectively.If the resolution is supported, Mr. Melnyk will be single to be re-nominated for his office. The majority of ministers are BYuT and NU-NS members.Presently, the Cabinet comprises 27 ministers, including the PM, the first vice PM and five vice PMs.They are mainly PRU members with Mr. Yanukovych as the PM.Mr. Kremin was Minister of Education from 2002 to 2005. Mr. Melnyk worked in government from 2006 to 2007 under the quota of the Communist Party. Source: Interfax-UkraineSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Yelizaveta Badanovahttp://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/12/12/9585.htmÍå çàäàíî (äëÿ íîâèí)Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:06:00 +0200The coalition of BYuT and the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense (NU-NS) bloc gathered 150 MP signatures supporting the initiative to hold a repeated PM voting of Mrs. Tymoshenko’s candidacy by secret ballot (with the help of ballot papers). The coalition of BYuT and the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense (NU-NS) bloc gathered 150 MP signatures supporting the initiative to hold a repeated PM voting of Mrs. Tymoshenko’s candidacy by secret ballot (with the help of ballot papers).This is according to NU-NS member Davyd Zhvania.“150 MPs supported the initiative and it is to be submitted for parliament consideration tomorrow,” he stated in Kyiv on Tuesday.Mr. Zhvania also informed that the President agreed to propose Mrs. Tymoshenko’s candidacy for the PM post for the second time.Answering the question about Mr. Plushch, Mr. Zhvania announced that the NU-NS faction adopted a decision to exclude him from the faction.He added that the procedure was very difficult and it was to be elaborated still.Source: Interfax-UkraineSee source text in Ukrainiantranslated by Yelizaveta Badanova