The bill on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved by the government on Oct. 4 envisages that the Ukrainian president will control and influence "almost all" public institutions and agencies, the leader of the Civil Position Party, Anatoliy Hrytsenko, has said.
"In fact, it’s not a law on the Cabinet of Ministers. It’s a law of the system of government in Ukraine. Yanukovych wants to get much more powers than those enjoyed by [second Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma," he said in a statement posted on his blog.
As examples of such powers, he cites a number of transitional and concluding provisions. According to the bill on the Cabinet of Ministers, "other reasons" are enough for the president to dismiss the prosecutor general and other senior officials.
"Yanukovych taught [Russian President Dmitry] Medvedev how to conquer the [Ukrainian] capital without holding any elections. Medvedev will now teach Yanukovych how to sack officials with the wording ‘over the loss of the president’s confidence,’" Hrytsenko said, referring to the recent dismissal by Medvedev of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.
Hrytsenko said he was also concerned over the situation with the Security Service of Ukraine: "Under Kuchma, the SBU was ‘subordinated to the president and accountable to the Verkhovna Rada’ – while Yanukovych is making the SBU subordinated to him."
Hrytsenko also pointed to the cancellation of requirements from the law on the SBU on informing the parliament and meeting its commitments to respond to requests from deputies, as well as permanent and temporary commissions. He said that similar changes had been made to the law on the State Service on Special Communications and Information Protection.
He also noted that "Yanukovych will himself, instead of the Cabinet of Ministers (as the case was under Kuchma), appoint and dismiss the deputy heads of the tax service." He also wondered: "Is there already such distrust in the ‘united team’ that the government is not allowed to control tax flows?"
Hrytsenko said that "Yanukovych will have the right to redistribute the budget, transferring funds from one program to another, as he wants… without any agreement with the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada."
"Yanukovych decided that neither ‘stranger’ nor ‘his own’ deputies should control the distribution of budgetary funds. Is this another European norm?" he said.
Hrytsenko also noted that: "A significant number of staff appointments, first and foremost, of the whole system of the heads of local state administrations, will be made by Yanukovych under a motion from the prime minister, rather than the Cabinet of Ministers, as under Kuchma. The government as a collegial body will not discuss, or at least formally approve or reject, candidates!"
"Yanukovych will control and influence almost everything – the prosecutor’s office and the courts, law enforcement agencies and security bodies, tax and customs services, natural monopolies, radio and television, utility services and heat supplies, nuclear energy and waste management, the protection of rights to plant varieties, electricity production and the use of energy potential. He will even personally approve a clause on the Health Ministry!" Hrytsenko said.
He believes that "Yanukovych is not just bringing law and his powers in line with the Constitution of Kuchma. Yanukovych is surpassing his teacher."
As reported, the Ukrainian government, at a meeting on October 4, approved a draft law on the Cabinet of Ministers, which among other things foresees the appointment of the prime minister by the president.
