Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych greets supporters in Kiev on April 11, 2007.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Yanukovych Takes His Case to Strasbourg
// Ukrainian Prime Minister Speaks to a Packed House
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych traveled to Strasbourg yesterday to make his case before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In his address to the Assembly, Mr. Yanukovych laid out his point of view on the political crisis in Ukraine, including the possibility of the impeachment of President Viktor Yushchenko. Kommersant correspondent Nargiz Asadova is following events in Strasbourg.
The arrival of Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych caused a stir in the Council of Europe headquarters. Mr. Yanukovych swanned into the building accompanied by PACE President Rene van der Linden and three bodyguards and immediately attracted an enormous crowd of journalists, including 24 journalists who had come with the prime minister from Ukraine. The attention clearly agreed with Mr. Yanukovych, who grinned and, ignoring his security detail's directions to keep going straight into Mr. van der Linden's office, turned to the journalists to answer a question or two.
"What will the constitutional court (in Ukraine) decide about the president's order dissolving the Rada?" someone asked.
"That it was legal and constitutional," smiled Mr. Yanukovych before disappearing behind closed doors with the president of PACE.
After a half-hour conversation, the Ukrainian prime minister and Mr. van der Linden appeared at a joint press conference. The president of PACE thanked Mr. Yanukovych for coming to Strasbourg at such a crucial moment for his country and made much of the fact that he had become acquainted with Mr. Yanukovych back in 2005, when he was still the leader of the opposition: "I remember that you were very surprised when I requested a meeting with you. I said then that I consider it essential to meet with all of the participants in democratic elections." He assured the prime minister that PACE "does not intend to decide who is right and who is wrong." "The Assembly will not take anyone's side. The Ukrainian people have made a choice in favor of democracy. I am sure that your people will make the right decision," said Mr. van der Linden.
The Russian journalists were the first to start firing off questions.
"Do you believe that the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis is possible without the impeachment of President Yushchenko?" asked one.
"We haven't framed the question that way," began Mr. Yanukovych in Russian, instead of the Ukrainian he had been trying to speak exclusively up to that point. "That question needs to be decided on the judicial level. We believe that President Yushchenko has the possibility to suspend his decree, then hold appropriate talks, find a compromise decision, and then repeal it before the constitutional court's decision. A second variant is to wait for the decision of the constitutional court. It will not be in the president's favor and, of course, will have negative consequences for President Yushchenko. And one of the possible variants is impeachment."
"The constitutional court began to review the constitutionality of Yushchenko's decree dissolving the Rada in an atmosphere of scandal: several judges said that they were being pressured, and stories came out about the judges being bribed. Do you believe that the court is capable of reaching an impartial verdict?" blurted a television journalist in Ukrainian.
"Any decision of the constitutional court must be considered legal," answered Mr. Yanukovych in Russian. "Any pressure on a court, much less on the judges of the constitutional court, is a violation of the principles of democracy and the constitution of Ukraine," he added.
Then Mr. Yanukovych was led into the Assembly chamber, where he was due to give a 15-minute speech and to answer questions from the deputies. In his address, the Ukrainian prime minister said that "the dramatic nature of the situation demands clarity and honesty" from him and warned that his appraisals of his political opponents can occasionally be excessively critical, but that it cannot be helped.
"Do you remember how one of the heroes in the Fellini film 8 Women said, 'Happiness is when you can speak the truth without causing pain to anyone?'" continued the prime minister, reading from his prepared remarks.
Mr. Yanukovych then blamed President Yushchenko for not desiring a compromise. "In order to unify all political factions, we offered to let [pro-presidential faction] Our Ukraine lead the government. After the formation of a parliamentary coalition, we gave them a third of the seats in the government. But they did not make use of the opportunity," said Mr. Yanukovych.
The prime minister also emphasized that, despite all of the intrigues attributed to the coalition by the orange faction, Ukraine's economy is growing, monthly GDP growth is 8%, inflation is only 1.1%, and the currency reserves "are the largest in the history of independent Ukraine."
"With your speech, you are pressuring PACE before the adoption of a resolution on the situation in Ukraine," grumbled Oksana Bilozir, a deputy from the Ukrainian deputy and a member of the pro-president Our Ukraine faction.
"You lodged an appeal with the constitutional court to determine the constitutionality of the president's decree. But until the court's decision, the president's decree is in force. And by not obeying it, you yourself are breaking Ukrainian law," she continued.
"That is an interesting question," mused Viktor Yanukovych. "According to the lawyers that I have consulted with, the president's decree is not a law – it is an executive order, as long as the constitutional court does not recognize it. The main law in Ukraine is the constitution."
"How can you say that you are defending the rule of law when it is on your initiative that the parliament is not executing the president's decree? Why are you against early elections?" asked Georgian representative Nino Nakashidze.
"The decision was made by the government in a majority vote. The government is a collegial organ. We act within the framework of what the government decides," said Mr. Yanukovych in a less confident tone.
"It was difficult to listen to your speech," said Elena Tevtoradze, taking the baton from her colleague. "You are talking about adherence to democratic values. But not long ago Kalashnikov, a member of your party, assaulted a journalist. Why did you not exclude him from the party?"
"I was the first to bring the suggestion of excluding him from the Party of the Regions. The decision must be taken at a party meeting that has not happened yet. The matter remains open," answered the Ukrainian prime minister.
"I think that it is time to end the time for questions," interrupted Rene van der Linden, promising that the Assembly is not in the business of apportioning blame. "I think that the uniqueness of our organization, where we can openly ask any question, is obvious to everyone," he said.
Journalists noted that the usually active Russian delegation to PACE had no questions for the speaker this time. Asked by Kommersant's correspondent why the delegation had been so quiet, representative Mikhail Margelov answered, "In the Council of Europe, questions are asked not on the basis of the delegation's nationality, but according to the principle of membership in a certain political group. From the group of European democrats, to which I am honored to belong, a question was posed by British representative Nigel Evans. That was our group's decision. The Georgian deputies pushed their sharply-worded questions through their group." Russian delegation head Konstantin Kosachyov, however, acknowledged to Kommersant that the Russian deputies were employing silence tactically: "We are refraining from openly supporting the Rada. And we are doing so at the request of the Ukrainian delegation. All of our fundamental questions are not for Yanukovych, but for Yushchenko. For us it is also important to participate in the drafting of the resolution concerning the situation in Ukraine, which will be discussed on Thursday."
Nargiz Asadova
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 18, 2007
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