Baloha: Lytvyn may repeat the fate of Yatseniuk

“The current union in the Rada is merely a tactical one uniting parties with differing agendas. It’s like a lawmakers’ club. It cannot serve as a support base for Volodymyr Lytvyn until the coalition declares its unifying goals. Otherwise, V. Lytvyn will suffer the fate of his predecessor, Arseny Yatseniuk,” Baloha claims.

Baloha stresses that at least 226 deputies [a simple majority] must sign a coalition agreement. Otherwise, the Rada will be ineffective, and snap elections might become a priority, with the incumbent reinstating his former decree to disband the parliament.

“The newly elected speaker should not start his tenure plunging into presidential campaign rhetoric and taking critical pot-shots left, right and center. Instead, the speaker should better analyze his own track record of state-building and focus, with the cabinet, on leading Ukraine out of the recession. As a motivation for Rada’s work, the draft 2009 budget to be approved by lawmakers must allocate funding for snap parliamentary elections. Without this the president will not sign the budget into law. Such condition will be a real safeguard against populism, inaction and irresponsibility of the future coalition,” Baloha warned.