Yushchenko, Tymoshenko Rivalry Emerges Onto Public Stage

KIEV, Ukraine -- The elephant in the room of Ukrainian politics is the ongoing competition between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko.

Yulia Tymoshenko at a Cabinet of Ministers meeting.
The rivalry drives each leader to offer competing, sometimes conflicting, government initiatives, then trade criticism whenever an opportunity presents itself, observers said.

“There are two Cabinets, and naturally they’re going to strive to prove which is better,” said Yuriy Syrotiuk, a political analyst with the Kyiv-based Open Society Foundation, financed by US, British and Polish grants.

Rivalry was apparent from the first days of the Tymoshenko government, when she elevated her close adviser Hryhoriy Nemyria to vice prime minister for Euro-integration, at the same time that presidential ally Volodymyr Ohryzko became Minister of Foreign Affairs, the branch responsible for the government’s diplomacy.

Ohryzko already was snipping at Nemyria at the first Cabinet of Ministers meeting.

The gulf widened as the Secretariat, led by Viktor Baloha, offered only tepid support for Tymoshenko’s radical program to return $4 billion in bank deposits lost during the Soviet Union’s collapse.

When January’s inflation rate ballooned to 2.9 percent, or a 19.4 percent annual rate, Yushchenko placed the blame squarely on Tymoshenko’s initiative.

“We stand before very serious challenges,” the president said Feb. 7. “I would say the word ‘very’ three times. We haven’t had this (inflation) for the last eight years.”

Soon enough, the two competitors began rolling out opposing program initiatives. The presidential team unveiled its own version of an anti-smuggling program in late January to compete with Tymoshenko’s widely acclaimed Contraband Stop! He also introduced a rival program to provide government housing subsidies.

The tensions intensified when the president overturned Tymoshenko’s nomination to replace opposition politician Valentyna Semeniuk as State Property Fund chair with her own ally, Andriy Portnov.

Although their coalition agreement gives Tymoshenko the right to nominate a candidate, Yushchenko disapproved her doing so without consulting him, observers said.

Tymoshenko has done her best to smooth over such conflicts, understanding that her success depends on keeping the coalition government intact.

“The government of Ukraine accepts the decision of President Viktor Yushchenko on canceling the Cabinet resolution in dismissing Valentyna Semeniuk from carrying out the responsibilities of State Property Fund chair and will execute it, but this practically extends corruption,” Tymoshenko told reporters on Feb. 7.

Perhaps the most harmful conflict was evident during the latest natural gas crisis with the Russian Federation, in which Tymoshenko held a hard line calling for eliminating intermediaries and direct negotiations with Gazprom and Central Asian suppliers.

Yushchenko indirectly defended the use of gas intermediaries such as RosUkrEnergo, which he said stabilize prices, creating a conflict in government that political observers said played into the Kremlin’s hands.

Critics in the opposition are exploiting the adversarial relationship to criticize what they view as an ineffective and divided government.

“After 40 days, the opposition between the presidential and prime ministerial branches is so colossal that they hold no confidence,” said Petro Symonenko, chair of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

In Syrotiuk’s view, neither Yushchenko nor Tymoshenko are to blame.

An awkward compromise was reached to divide executive authority between the Cabinet of Ministers and the Presidential Secretariat during the Orange Revolution.

Dividing executive authority between two government branches virtually ensured intergovernmental strife.

The changes went into effect on Jan. 1, 2006, when the prime minister’s post was filled by Yushchenko’s loyal, technocratic ally, Yuriy Yekhanurov.

Tension surfaced once rival Viktor Yanukovych took over the Cabinet in August that year, and immediately began to exploit the divided authority for political advantage. Conflict between the two executive organs has persisted since.

The presidential election, likely to be held in early 2010, adds fuel to the fire, observers said.

“The Cabinet of Ministers is not a center of administering the economy and strategic planning, but it’s Yulia Tymoshenko campaign headquarters,” said Yaroslav Mendus, a leader in the Socialist Party of Ukraine. “The Presidential Secretariat is the campaign headquarters of Viktor Andriyovych. And they don’t decide long-term tasks, but pre-election tasks.”

Unlike the short-lived Yushchenko and Yanukovych government pairing, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko may last longer together because perhaps ironically, they need each other for mutual success.

“We’re talking about a hidden conflict,” Syrotiuk said. “But Tymoshenko needs Yushchenko’s support to remain as prime minister to show the results of her work. He needs her faction’s parliamentary votes to pass constitutional reforms, changing the crippling Cabinet of Ministers law and amending the 2008 budget.”

It’s unclear whether the rivalry will offer positive results or damage, he said.

March will test their relationship because Yushchenko plans to introduce key legislation in parliament.

Source: Kyiv Post