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The national budget for 2013 should be passed by the parliament of the current convocation, according to Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.

“Is there any guarantee that a new parliament will be much better
than the current one? I proceed from the fact that both the Cabinet of
Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine’s parliament] – irrespectively
whether it will become history or most of the lawmakers will continue
their titanic work in parliament – have got obligations to pass the
budget,” he said in an interview with the Rada TV Channel on Thursday.

According to Lytvyn, in keeping with the Constitution and the Budget
Code, the national budget for 2013 should be passed until Dec. 1,
2012.

“The conclusions are evident – this should be done by the current
Verkhovna Rada,” he said, noting that the rest are “political games
played by those who don’t want to assume the responsibility.”

As was reported, the government on Sept.12, 2012, approved and
tabled the draft budget for 2013 in parliament within the deadline fixed
by the Constitution (Sept. 15). However, having discussed the draft
with the parliament’s budget committee, the parliament speaker decided
to send the document for finalization. The wording of the draft budget
was neither made public nor distributed among lawmakers.