It is probably the last place where President Viktor Yanukovych expected dissent. His own Party of Regions appeared to develop a rift this week as several of its prominent members came out with public statements that they will not support European integration, which has become the mantra of both the authorities and the opposition on the eve of a potential signing of an Association Agreement with the European Union in November.
The statements came as the parliament reconvened after the summer recess this week, and is expected to approve a number of laws prerequisite to signing the agreement at the Nov. 27 Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius.
Nestor Shufrych, a former minister for emergencies, told the media on Sept. 4 that he expected that a new group will be created in support of the Eurasian Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in parliament.
“We’re talking about creation of a union of deputies according to their interests, but by no means does it mean that the deputies will exit their factions,” Shufrych said.
Some members of the opposition said that Shufrych was not the only dissident in the Party of Regions, the biggest faction in the Verkhovna Rada. Volodymyr Kurinnyi, a deputy from the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, said on Sept. 4 that there are about 40 deputies among the Regions’ 207 who feel similar pangs about the official line of European integration.
Oleh Tsariov, a Regions parliament member who is known for his support for the Customs Union, was named as another leader of the rebellion. But he denied the information in an interview to TVi channel, as well as rumors of split in the pro-presidential faction.
“As far as I know, all deputies from our faction are ready to support the European integration laws, regardless of where we’re going – to Customs or European Union. How can we possibly not vote for a law on prosecution when it has a chance to become the best on the whole post-Soviet space,” he told the TV channel.
But despite the denials of split, Party of Regions faction leader Oleksandr Yefremov called an urgent general meeting of the faction at 4 p.m. on Sept. 4, and called on the president to preside over it, deputies from the faction said.
The president was supposed to meet with special European Parliament envoys Pat Cox and Alexander Kwasniewski around the same time to discuss the case of Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed former prime minister, whose release is viewed as key to signing the Association Agreement. The envoys visited Tymoshenko in her cell in the Kharkiv hospital in the morning of Sept. 4, and planned to fly back into Kyiv.
The president’s meeting with the faction lasted for about three hours. Olena Bondarenko, a Party of Regions member, said that it was more like “a very long lecture on economic benefits of signing the Association Agreement.”
She said the meeting was very amicable, with Yanukovych answering many questions, including one from Shufrych. He asked whether it’s true that signing an Association Agreement would not prevent Ukraine from forming a deeper relationship with the Customs Union.
The president was quoted as saying: “Yes, it’s true.” He also went on to explain that moving to European standards in trade, for example, would actually have a positive effect on trade, and that Ukraine needs to do it regardless of signing the Association Agreement – simply because it’s committed to do it as a member of the World Trade Organization.
Yanukovych also said that Russia, in fact, would also have to move to the same standards as a WTO member.
Shufrych himself told Ukrainska Pravda website that the discussion was friendly, and the issue of his expulsion from the Party of Regions was not raised.
Shufrych is formerly a top member of Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), which was created and run by Viktor Medvedchuk, one of the most ardent drivers of pro-Russian movements in modern-day Ukraine. Medvedchuk has close personal ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of his daughter.
Volodymyr Makeenko, another deputy from Party of Regions, said that the deputies decided to unanimously vote for the laws that promote European integration, according to the party’s website.
Earlier on the same day, representatives of the opposition vowed to support the same laws. At least five of them are expected to be on the agenda of Sept. 5 session, including draft amendments to the Constitution that provide for greater freedom of the judiciary.
Arseniy Yatseniuk, leader of Batkivshchyna, Tymoshenko’s opposition faction in the Rada, said that to speed up movement towards the signing with the EU, the opposition will vote even for presidential and Cabinet drafts they do not like, and will introduce changes later.
Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].
