Friday, October 12, 2007

President double-dealing as usual

Here's some interesting speculation from 'Gazeta po Kiyevski':

On 8th October the president met the leaders of the parties that will enter the new parliament and gave them five days to sort out a coalition, submit a candidate for prime minister, and a program of action for the future KabMin.

Public negotiations between NUNS and BYuT (and behind-the-scenes negotiations between NUNS and PoR) are far from complete. The main stumbling block is no one wants to give up the PM's chair, or satisfy the president's increasing appetite - he now wants to assign the minister of the interior too.

BYuT and NUNS keep saying they have almost completed their arrangements...but not quite. Sticking points seem to be program details, including changing laws on the KabMin. For Yushchenko these laws presents a significant danger because they considerably truncate his authority and increase the authority of potential premier Tymoshenko.

'GpoK' claims the president's reaction to this week's brief standoff with Gazprom/Kremlin on the $2Bn 'gas debt' has been half-hearted, and suggests an explanation for this.

While one part of NUNS have been occupied with public negotiations involving Yuriy Lutsenko and Vyacheslav Kirilenko and BYuT, conversations have been taking place at the president's secretariat where Viktor Baloga has met representatives of PoR, in particular Andriy Klyuev,and even Rinat Akhmetov. [Sounds familiar?]

There has been little reaction from President Yushchenko to the signing by Minister of Fuel and Energy (and future PoR deputy) Yuriy Boyko of a mysterious agreement on the liquidation of the "gas debt". He may not have even seen details of the agreement.

Today Yushchenko sent Yanukovych a letter criticizing the projected budget for 2008, but did not point out Minister of Finance Mykola Azarov's increases in benefits for deputies and high ranking state officials.

The reasons for the president's attitude may be that it just wouldn't look right for him to criticize the Party of Regions whilst behind-the-scenes negotiations with them are taking place, and then possibly even going into coalition with the same people shortly afterwards.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

But perhaps double dealing is exactly what the President should be doing and that was actually his mistake in March 2006 that he didn't press home his party's position as middleman to keep Yekhanurov in power - that is they may have the fewest votes but they have the balance of power. A neutral PM could be best for him and for the country because both Yanukovich and Tymoshenko are tied to private business interests (and she hides her own - really her only source of income is her salary????)as opposed the current defense and foreign ministers who are not tied up in the same way. A coalition between NUNS and POR with the current powers of the PM maintained and without Yanukovich and Azarov could be relatively stable, less corrupt, unifying and reforming one at least compared to a Tymochenko government. In short he needs to convince POR and their backers that Tymochenko as PM is a real possiblity and Tymochenko that PR?NUNS is a really possiblity and get in a career poltician/administrator as PM.