Friday, February 27, 2009

Yushchenko backs off after G7 pressure?

According to 'Segodnya', President Yushchenko has proposed declaring a moratorium on political quarrels and forgetting about the presidential elections until 1st July.

The declaration was made during a meeting with prime minister Tymoshenko, VR chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn and opposition representative and PoR old-timer Mykola Azarov.

Yushchenko also suggested forgoing all attempts to disturb the population further by means of rash statements in the mass media .

"All you will be Presidents in your time. But please forget about the elections until the 1st of July. There's no need to rush. I am convinced, victory will be achieved by the person who should win. The main thing is that Ukraine does not lose," said Yushchenko.

The sudden change of tack by the president, who has conducted a vicious campaign of criticism against the Tymoshenko government for many months, may have been the product of Thursday's encounter between Yushchenko and the ambassadors of the G7 countries, IMF representatives, and World Bank officials who, according to "Delo" presented the Ukrainian head of our state with an ultimatum: either make peace with Tymoshenko and, together with the Cabinet of Ministers, begin to satisfy IMF requirements, or the major states will change their "model of collaboration" with Ukraine, and leave the country short of the desperately needed $16.5Bn IMF credits.

"Delo" claims western governments are perturbed fact that Ukraine could become [dangerously] financially dependent on Russia. Indeed Moscow, in contrast to the IMF, could provide credit support without excessive conditions.

So was the Russian loans affair just a clever double-bluff to ease IMF's opening of their wallets?

As for the 'moratorium' - the toys will be flying around the sand pit within just a few days again, no doubt.

p.s. 'Oboz' is reporting that National Security and Defence Council secretary, Raisa Bohatyryova, has been sacked by the president, but no ukaz has yet appeared on the presidential website. [see previous posting on FN]

The sacking, according to 'Oboz' was supposedly linked to her reluctance to take part in a 'power scenario'.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tym's the one who refused to satisfy the IMF requirement. She's the one who said I'm not changing the budget.

Unknown said...

Actually Yuschenko has been a bad boy. The badmouthing and psuedo-patriotism is just a cover for the banking scandal exposed by the State Tax Administration. Story in www.Ukrainians.Ca. "About $2.7 billion was moved out of the country on settlements for fictitious imports. Another $4.6 billion was transferred under portfolio and direct investment schemes, and foreign currency purchases to create open currency positions accounted for $9.8 billion (including $7.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008)".

"In total almost $17.5 billion was acquired last year, either for transfer outside Ukraine or for speculative operations on the currency exchange."

Reminder that the Tymoshenko government has no control over the Central Bank but Yush has.

Taras said...

The government has insisted on maintaining a 3% deficit. The IMF has now backed off and said its ok to have a 1% deficit.
It seems blatantly unfair that the IMF was initially demanding a zero deficit for Ukraine when EVERY Western country is using 1930s Keynesian spending to buy their countries out of recession.

OFP said...

If you are interested in current situation in Ukraine, and its international activities visit my blog via www.prooff.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

This is another sad joke and falsehood on Yushchenko part.

Early Presidential elections in Ukraine are the best option.not only would it potentially put an end to the divisive policies of Yushchenko but equally important is that it would facilitate a Presidential poll in Summer/Fall. A September poll would be far preferable then a mid winter ballot in January/February 2010

A prolonged Presidential campaign is also not in Ukraine's best interest.

Yushchenko will not be re-elected to a second term of office. He is likely to face impeachment proceedings- Something FN's has not yet reported on.

If Yushchenko announced his resignation NOW he would avoid the problems associated with a long campaign and an impeachment hearing.It would allow Ukraine to focus on the election of a new head of state and a ballot in warmer weather with expected increase participation rate.

IN fact Ukraine should nominate a fixed date(second or third Saturday in September in which Presidential ballots are held.If there is an early Presidential election then the term of office would be cut short or extended to the nearest September date. Elections in Ukraine biter cold Winter should be avoided at all costs.

Early presidential ballots is the way forward.

If he does not jump then he should be pushed.