The Ukrainian Weekly 1995, No.19

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Rights activists speak on society in independent Ukraine — page 3. • Quota on coats clashes with U.S. pronouncements — page 6. • More on the anniversary of the end of World War II — centerfold. THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIII No. 19 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 7, 1995 75 cents/$2 in Ukraine Ukraine questions Kuchma may take powers issue to the voters by Marta Kolomayets the other hand, is declining as more and more citizens U.N. withdrawal Kyyiv Press Bureau are frustrated with the way its work inches along. Presidential Chief of Staff Dmytro Tabachnyk told KYYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has threatened to journalists at a press briefing in mid-April that it was call a plebiscite on the "Law on State Power and Local "rather questionable" that the law would be adopted on of forces in Croatia Self-Government" if it is not passed by the Parliament in by Marta Kolomayets its second reading. And, such was the case as the parlia May, according to a source in the Presidential adminis mentarians struggled through the bill's 56 articles and Kyyiv Press Bureau tration. over 900 corrections. Of 11 articles examined in excru KYYIV - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Hennadiy And given the way this "powers bill" has been muti ciating detail, only two were passed by the deputies in Udovenko has called "unexpected and groundless" the lated and mangled by the lawmakers over a two-week the second reading. decision of the United Nations Secretariat to withdraw period in April, it now seems more than likely that Now the powers bill has been delegated to a third Ukrainian peacekeeping forces in Croatia over the President Kuchma will take the powers bill to the peo reading. weekend, Interfax-Ukraine reported. ple and address the citizens of Ukraine with two ques The Eastern Economist explained: During the first read tions: "Do you have confidence in the President of The U.N. decision came as heavy fighting broke out ing of a draft bill, the Parliament can vote to reject it, or Ukraine?" and "Do you have confidence in the Supreme between Croatian troops and Serbian soldiers along the return it to committee for reworking, or adopt it as a base Council of Ukraine?" Croatian highway that cuts through the western law. The draft bill on powers was adopted by the Slavonian enclave. News agencies reporting from the Although a plebiscite carries no political weight, it Parliament on December 28, 1994. A draft bill adopted on area said the Croatian attack had shattered a "permanent would allow President Kuchma, whose popularity is on its first reading has no legal force; it only means that ceasefire signed in 1994 with rebel Serbs who had gone a steady rise, to use it as a vote of confidence not only in deputies generally agree with a bill's concept and its main his economic reforms, but also in his attempts to reform points. The bill then goes back to the committee that drafted (Continued on page 9) Ukraine's political structure. Parliament's popularity, on it (or, as in the case of the powers bill, a special committee is drawn up) and its members make additions and changes before it.is brought up again for a second reading. 50 years ago In the second reading, the draft bill is submitted as a comparative table showing all the proposals made by deputies. Each proposal is discussed and voted on sepa The Ukrainian experience in the Nazi camps rately. At the second reading, the Supreme Council can reject the draft law, resubmit the draft for reworking, by Roman Woronowycz leaders trying to establish a Ukrainian government, prepare and adopt the draft for a third reading or ratify students studying abroad, villagers suspected of anti- the bill as a package. JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Although not marked for Nazi collaboration, escapees from German forced The third reading - which does not often occur in the mass extermination like the Jewish people, 6-7 mil labor camps and those caught by innocent circum lion of whom were brutally sacrificed to the Nazi war stance in the claw of the German war machine. Ukrainian Parliament - is geared toward making editori al corrections and bringing sections of the bill into com machine's quest for Aryan supremacy, Ukrainians by Dr. Taras Hunczak, a professor of history at the thousands suffered and died at concentration Rutgers University, said German policy towards pliance both internally and with existing legislation. camps bearing infamous names like Dachau and Ukrainians was aimed at weeding out political dissent Laws adopted in their second or third reading have Auschwitz. and clandestine activity, as opposed to the Nazi poli legal force only after the Supreme Council ratifies a Fifty years after Europe threw off the megalomani- cy of extermination directed at the Jews and the decree enacting the law. acal afflictions of a madman in Germany, the surviv Gypsies. "This had nothing to do with race or policies The Eastern Economist, a business weekly based in ing victims still have not forgotten the horror and toward the 'untermenschen,'" said Prof. Hunczak. Kyyiv, pointed out that the legislative process is quite tragedy of those years. Untermenschen — subhumans — was the label complicated and time-consuming. For instance, while The youngest survivors are now retired, aging pen reviewing the bill on powers, the deputies spent almost sioners. At the time they were nationalist political (Continued on page 10) 10 hours just coming to agreement on the procedure for its adoption. Only then did they start debating it. For example, in the draft bill, the right to initiate a law was given to a wider circle of governmental entities than originally proposed. After hours of debate, the Supreme Council finally decided to grant that right to standing committees in the Parliament, individual deputies in the Parliament, the president of Ukraine, the Supreme Court, the Arbitration Court and the Cabinet of Ministers. The toughest fight of his life President Kuchma is proposing to make Ukraine a presidential republic with clearly divided executive, leg islative and executive powers; he is hoping that the powers bill will serve as a mini-Constitution until a new Constitution is adopted. He is also proposing that both the national and local governments be subordinated to the president, that the judiciary be independent and that the Parliament act purely as a legislative body. At this point, agreement has already been reached on the status of the judiciary. Parliament will nominate the prosecutor general, who will be subject to presidential approval. It also now seems likely that the president will have control over the government. The current struggle is over local and regional authorities. One of Ukraine's biggest problems in intro ducing reforms has been that changes have not taken A map showing the various Nazi incarceration camps in Central and Eastern Europe. (Continued on page 9) THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 7, 1995 No. 19 Project to promote citizens' involvement in formation of Ukraine's public policy Not enough room for Clinton in Kyyiv Finck, managing director of Ikea's East WASHINGTON - The U.S.-Ukraine Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy in Central Europe division. "We changed the Foundation has received a $93,000 grant Kyyiv, will be coordinating the imple KYYIV — Ukraine lacks appropriate way we do business. We're not leaving, but from the ARD/Checchi Rule of Law mentation of the new project. The project facilities to house U.S. President Bill adapting to the circumstances." Ikea, which Program to administer a one-year project will complement the efforts of the foun Clinton and his entourage during a May 11 began buying chairs and tables from the in Ukraine to help citizen organizations dation's Parliamentary Development visit to the Ukrainian capital, Ukraine's forest-rich region of Transcarpathia four become constructive players in the devel Project by facilitating closer relations Foreign Minister Hennadiy Udovenko said years ago, claims that of all its East opment of public policy. The funds, part between the Parliament and citizens. The on April 29. "Kyyiv is not yet ready for a European operations, Ukraine has been the of a grant program administered by PDP is currently in the process of creat visit on such a scale, for such a large worst. "The situation has gotten so bad that Checchi and Co. Consulting Inc., a ing a Parliamentary Working Group on entourage. Accommodating everyone is today the director at the factory has noth Washington-based consulting firm spe Citizen Relations in an effort to improve our main headache. Kyyiv is not adapted ing: no capital, no workers, no energy, no cializing in international issues, were communication between the Parliament to such an important political visit," he markets. What can he do?" said Mr. Finck. made possible by the United States and its constituency. said. Mr. Clinton is scheduled to visit By upgrading its suppliers, however, Ikea Agency for International Development "Like PDP, the goal of this new pro Kyyiv after his trip to Moscow, where he has indicated it plans to stay in the region (USAID). ject is also to initiate a process that will participate in ceremonies marking the because of its cheap labor and good quality The project will provide non-govern encourages communication and coopera 50th anniversary of the Allied victory in products. It is the first time the company mental citizen groups with the tools to tion between the government and its peo Europe. (The Washington Times) has done so in the 30 years it has been in make themselves heard in the halls of ple.

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