IVAN GAYVANOVYCH, KIEV
HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE
First 100 days of Yuliya Tymoshenko’s premiership were crowned with the fuel crisis. After the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, guiding by a suspicion of cartel collusion among oil suppliers, set limit prices for oil products petrol stations were deprived of fuel.
President Viktor Yushchenko managed to cope with the problem of petrol deficit: he offered oil suppliers to turn over a new leaf and promised that the government would not interfere in the price regulations. As for economy, in accordance with the proverb “a blessing in disguise” the petrol crisis can have even some positive consequences: in particular, by the order of President Viktor Yushchenko the system of diversification of oil purchases will be developed (today Ukraine fully depends on Russia for that matter) and the reserves of light oil products will be created.
However, the petrol crisis has had a negative effect on the current politics in Ukraine. It revealed contradictions within the new government that were more or less hidden. The problem is not only the relationships between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. The point is how the relationships will be developed between Tymoshenko who feels insulted and, for example, the First Vice Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh who criticizes his chief, or that is more serious the Secretary of the Council of National Security and Defence of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko who was Tymoshenko’s rival for the post of the Prime Minister. By the way, Petro Poroshenko is still willing to be a Premier.
Poroshenko took advantage of the petrol crisis to taunt Tymoshenko noting that the Cabinet is responsible for the problems arisen in the oil products market. In return, the Prime Minister made it clear that none other than Petro Poroshenko is involved in the artificial creation of the fuel crisis. (As we know, President Yushchenko placed all the responsibility on Yuliya Tymoshenko and she rejects it completely.)
Taking into account that Yuliya Tymoshenko ordered the Ukrainian Security Service to find people responsible for the crisis, the special service is expected to obtain materials that compromise Petro Poroshenko in the nearest future. By the way, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service Oleksandr Turchinov is the old close associate of Tymoshenko and her single proponent in the Government.
In this situation the President has become the gainer. Cautious and uncorrupted, Viktor Yushchenko took over the situation when the relationships between the Cabinet and the oil companies came to a standstill. He managed to recover the situation and scolded the Cabinet for the wrong actions.
However, some questions arise. Where the President was before and why he did not react when the Government made the wrong (in his opinion) decisions is unclear. It gives grounds to think that President Yushchenko would blame the Prime Ministers for all failures of the Government just as the former President Leonid Kuchma used to do. But Yuliya Tymoshenko will scarcely accept these rules.
Viktor Yushchenko still considers her party “Batkivschyna” as a blocking partner in the parliamentary elections of 2006. However, it will be difficult for Yushchenko to get the strong and ambitious Prime Minister with her independent political prospects into a joint electoral bloc. Time will tell for how long Tymoshenko will be the Prime Minister if she refuses to join the President.
The author is a News Editor with the Internet-edition “Ukrainskaya Pravda”. The article is written specially for “Eurasian Home”.
May 24, 2005
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