What did the president say and what was heard?

While Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Alla Pugacheva at her jubilee concert in the Ukraine Palace, President Viktor Yushchenko held a press conference in the Ukrainian Home. Yushchenko spoke for two hours in his usual tempo and florid manner. His took 15 minutes or sometimes even more to answer a question, while managing to link hostile takeovers of businesses and parliamentary immunity in one statement.

Some very na ve journalists thought that the President would somewhat clarify the situation with the early parliamentary and presidential elections. But Yushchenko made two controversial statements. First, he said that there are no legitimate grounds for an early dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada because there is no decision by the Constitutional Court. Second, the President is ready to “meet [the parliamentarians] halfway” and pass a resolution to dissolve parliament. However, for this to happen a series of laws have to be passed, in particular election laws should be amended to make parties lists open and abolish parliamentary immunity.

Speaking about Our Ukraine’s inner problems, Yushchenko assured that the party has future and is now being cleansed of the people who simply jumped on the bandwagon.

“There was a handful group of people who came into democratic politics in 2002, and in the legendary year of 2004, I remember, they were standing behind my back, thus showing they were involved in the events. I am not in debt to any of the individuals who associated themselves with the political events of 2004. I gave them everything and maybe even more than some of them deserve.”

Yushchenko also said that Tymoshenko offered him her support of the amendments to the Constitution to have the president elected in parliament. In Yushchenko’s words, there was a draft of the Constitution drawn up in June through August 2008 and aimed at dividing power between two political forces.

“There was only one intention: to divide spheres of influence between two political forces. They needed the president only to implement their agreements. Tymoshenko report to me on this, but I rejected the offer and made it clear at our first meeting.”

The best was last: after the live broadcast was over the President announced his political “will”: he wants to have an effective democratic European Constitution. We all know from our own experience when this kind of a document is typically drawn up. The journalists asked him whether the statement about the political “will” implied his non-participation in the upcoming presidential elections. The president broke the fixed stereotypes: it appears that in Yushchenko’s understanding a will is not someone’s last request but something different. He replied in a straightforward and surprisingly concise manner: “I am going [to run for president]. It is quite obvious.”

Out of big political players only Arsenii Yatseniuk responded to the president’s message. He said that now he has three main competitors. “The competition will be very tough, and it will be even tougher after the president’s announcement made yesterday.”

However, maybe there is no reason for Yatseniuk to worry so much. Depending on what decision the Constitutional Court will pass, the President may have two or three more press conferences in the Ukrainian Home and modify his “will.”

Volodymyr FESENKO, director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research:

“I believe that the President has not made up his mind yet about his political future. He wants to put a brave face on a sorry business. He says that he’ll participate in the presidential race, and at the same time he tellingly uses the word ‘will’ in a sort of a Freudian slip. A person would speak about a ‘will’ when he is about to leave, in this case, the political life. If Yushchenko is already thinking about his will, it implies that he has no delusions about his chances to win the presidential elections.

“What concerns political reforms suggested by the president, I think that most of them stand no chance of being realized, because Yushchenko has too little time in office. “Perhaps this was his last attempt to win people’s trust. But I think that he has already lost all his chances. It started these kinds of activities too late. I think it is too late to promise to reconstruct the country when you have less than a year in office.”

Ihor LOSIEV, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Studies at Kyiv Mohyla Academy:

“The press conference made a two-fold impression. On the one hand, the president said many correct words. He spoke about the need to resolutely combat corruption (although everyone is speaking but not doing anything about it now), reform the judicial system, and abolish total parliamentary immunity. He also made a very important statement that the key to the Ukraine–Russia relations are not in Kyiv but in Moscow. Not much is being said about it in Ukraine. It is believed that Ukraine is quite powerful and can resolve problems that concern the two countries on its own. “This is all very correct, clever, and logical. However, only one thought lingers: who is going to put it all into life and why, after nearly five years, nothing has been done? Everybody knows and understands everything, but nobody is able to do anything.

“Generally, there is no secret about what needs to be done. All the people who have at least some understanding know what needs to be done but nobody is doing anything and that is the problem.

“It is, of course, Yushchenko’s right to take part in the elections. However, he needs to consider whether this will help the political forces that will be realizing his wishes or cause major problems for them.”