You're reading: Presidential Secretariat: Yuschenko defends economic freedom in contrast to state monopolism of Tymoshenko

President of Ukraine Viktor Yuschenko has said he supports the establishment of the economic freedom in the state, First Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Secretariat Oleksandr Shlapak has said.

"The economic program of the president fundamentally differs from the program of our government. The economic program of Yuschenko is based only on one principle – the principle of economic freedom," Shlapak said on the ICTV TV channel on Monday night, the presidential press service reported.

Shlapak explained that the program bans tax collection in advance, would return non-reimbursed VAT, create equal tax rules for everybody, and stop government interference in certain enterprises and whole sectors of the economy.

At the same time, Shlapak described the position of the prime minister as state monopolism.

"[The government’s policy is] to take all authorities to the center, [and] to give orders to everybody, starting from a small farm and up to huge enterprises and sectors," Shlapak said.