UKRAINE: Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko backs embattled foreign minister; promises to continue with constitutional reforms

President Viktor Yushchenko, locked in a battle for influence with parliament and the prime minister, stood by Ukraine's pro-Western foreign minister on Thursday (December 14) and vowed to resist moves to dismiss him. "The political reform, taking into account the way it had been undertaken and its extremely unbalanced contents, has brought Ukraine to the situation where the relations between the central political institutions, the branches of power have become very complicated," Yushchenko said during a news conference for foreign media in Kiev on Thursday. Yushchenko said he would pursue constitutional changes. "We need to be aware that failure to introduce changes into the constitution today will bring the revival of an authoritarian rule in this country. Though I swear I will not allow this happen," Yushchenko said. Yushchenko won the 2004 election in the aftermath of weeks of mass "Orange Revolution" against election fraud. He defeated his arch rival Viktor Yanukovich in a re-run of a rigged poll, but ended up appointing him prime minister last August after his own allies scored badly in a parliamentary election and were unable to form a government. Borys Tarasyuk, chief architect of Yushchenko's policy aims of eventually joining NATO and the European Union, was sacked as foreign minister by parliament earlier this month. "Is Tarasyuk Borys Ivanovych performing his duties as foreign minister of Ukraine? This is the fundamental basis of the president's position in this question. I have rejected initiatives by the prime minister to put forward another candidate. The law is in force. There is a court decision as to the illegitimacy of the parliament decision on this issue. Situation is again back to the legitimacy," said Yushchenko. The president issued a decree overturning the dismissal and a court ruled he should stay in his job, but Tarasyuk was barred last week from attending a cabinet meeting. Yushchenko told reporters that his goals of moving Ukraine closer to the West remained unchanged. Yanukovich has said he is pursuing the same objectives, but has repeatedly called for Tarasyuk to quit. He enraged the president by telling NATO officials in Brussels that low public support ruled out fast-track membership of the alliance. Under constitutional changes approved during the revolution, several presidential powers were transferred to parliament and the prime minister, but Yushchenko retains the right to oversee foreign policy and name the foreign and defence ministers. Parliament has also started procedures to dismiss defence minister Anatoly Hrytsenko, a second, rare presidential ally in the cabinet.

ITN Source | December 15, 2006

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