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Constitutional Chaos Ukraine’S Politi Cal Paralysis Will Never Be Resolved Unti L the Consti Tuti on Is Changed COMMENT

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Constitutional Chaos Ukraine’S Politi Cal Paralysis Will Never Be Resolved Unti L the Consti Tuti on Is Changed COMMENT Constitutional chaos Ukraine’s politi cal paralysis will never be resolved unti l the consti tuti on is changed COMMENT Peter Dickinson Business Ukraine Ukraine’s politi cians depart for their annual summer break in early July with uncertainty, with diff erent offi ces seemingly able to spend their ti me cancelling the presidenti al electi ons looming on the horizon and no end in sight to the out the work of others or overruling one another. consti tuti onal confusion which conti nues to paralyze the functi oning of the country’s government. The latest eff ort to resolve this chaos came to nothing in The parliamentary/presidenti al fault line early June, when feverish negoti ati ons to form a consti tuti onal majority in parlia- Ukraine’s inability to determine whether it should adopt a parliamentary or ment between Yulia Tymoshenko’s BYUT facti on and the Viktor Yanukovych-led presidenti al system of government is fi tti ng given the country’s status as the Party of Regions collapsed amid yet more backbiti ng and acrimony. As per usual, great borderland of the former Eastern Bloc. Both in terms of geography and both sides claimed that their collecti ve failure was enti rely the other party’s fault, geopoliti cs, this huge country lies in the no man’s land which separates the new while President Yushchenko weighed in by democracies and neo-autocracies which expressing how deeply concerned he was emerged from the wreckage of the old about the whole thing. The collapse of this Soviet Empire. Immediately to the West of most recent bid to unravel the country’s Ukraine the former socialist countries of consti tuti onal contradicti ons means that Central Europe have unanimously opted for in all probability we will now enter into the parliamentary democracies, with presidents presidenti al electi on campaign with the serving a purely ceremonial role. To the East current deeply fl awed consti tuti on sti ll in of Ukraine there lies nothing but presidenti al place. In other words the new president, systems across the whole of Eurasia. whoever they may be, will inherit a country which will be just as ungovernable as it is Is Ukraine ready for today. parliamentary democracy? Advocates of a Ukrainian parliamentary Land of confusion system argue that this form of government This consti tuti onal chaos is not a new has been instrumental in allowing the problem, nor is it excepti onal in a country country’s Central European neighbours to where laws routi nely contradict one reform their governments and economies another, rival interpretati ons of history do before setti ng out along the road to even- batt le on a daily basis and even the streets tual EU membership. Criti cs, meanwhile, themselves can oft en have two or three point out that Ukraine’s existi ng politi cal diff erent names in current usage. The prob- culture remains essenti ally Soviet in nature lems Ukraine faces with its consti tuti on are and as such is more naturally suited to the in many ways an extension of the identi ty strong leadership of a presidenti al system. crisis the country has experienced ever Disappointi ngly, they seem to think that since gaining independence in 1991, while Ukraine is not politi cally mature enough the somewhat muddled and unsati sfactory to become a successful parliamentary manner in which it has addressed these republic and will instead lose directi on. Sad problems has been very much in line with Ukraine’s progress in general. and bitt er memories of 1990s-style democracy conti nue to fuel such pessimism, Ukraine adopted its fi rst consti tuti on back in 1996 and the document has while the pugilisti c populism of the post-Orange era has provided even the most been subject to calls for revision ever since. Initi ally the terms of the consti tuti on ardent advocate of parliamentarianism with plenty of food for thought. Such appeared to favour the presidency, but crucially it failed to give the executi ve fatalisti c thinking has done much to bolster the positi on of authoritarian regimes enough power for Ukraine to be considered a truly presidenti al republic. The throughout the Soviet space, but despite the enduring appeal of Soviet-style consti tuti on was later amended in the other directi on, restricti ng the powers of promises about putti ng an end to disorder, there is litt le sign that Ukrainians the president and taking Ukraine towards parliamentary republic status. These are parti cularly tempted. However, amid all the confusion and consti tuti onal reforms were introduced during the Orange Revoluti on as part of a far-ranging contradicti ons of today’s Kyiv nobody has yet managed to secure the legisla- compromise agreement with the existi ng authoriti es which candidate Yush- ti ve changes that would transform Ukraine into Europe’s newest parliamentary chenko had happily entered into at the ti me but would soon come to regret. republic. It remains to be seen what role the issue of consti tuti onal reform will The new post-revoluti onary consti tuti on, which is actually based on proposed play in the forthcoming electi on campaign, but it is highly unlikely the anything steps towards a parliamentary system fi rst put forward by President Kuchma in will now be resolved so close to the vote, making this one of the top prioriti es for early 2004, failed to adequately separate the diff erent branches of power, leading the incoming president once they take offi ce in January 2010. Unti l the country’s to much overlapping and room for general mischief. The end result has been consti tuti onal chaos is defi niti vely resolved one way or the other, it is diffi cult to to leave Ukraine’s state structures stranded in a quagmire of legal turmoil and see how any future government can expect to make much headway. polotics.indd 4 03.07.2009 19:29:54 polotics.indd 5 03.07.2009 19:29:54 polotics.indd 6 03.07.2009 19:29:57 Ukraine and the re-set GEOPOLITICS Obama in Moscow and Biden in Kyiv as new geopoliti cal landscape begins to take shape Taras Kuzio President Barrack Obama’s July 6 visit to Moscow is giving Ukrainians the jitt ers. Some fear that his desire to re-set ti es with the Kremlin may lead to a lessening of support for Ukraine’s fl edgling democracy or Euro-Atlanti c integra- ti onist ambiti ons. Such concerns are nothing new. Seven years ago President George W. Bush visited Moscow and the then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his entourage panicked at the thought that the US was about to throw in the towel and consign Ukraine to Russia’s sphere of interest. In both 2002 and 2009 there were calls in the US and Ukraine for Bush and Obama respec- ti vely to tack Ukraine on to their Russian visits. Obama will not be visiti ng Kyiv, but later in July he will be sending over his second-in-command Vice President Biden to visit Ukraine and Georgia in what is being widely interpreted as an att empt to assure both governments that their Euro-Atlanti c ambiti ons will not be thrown under the bus as part of att empts to improve relati ons with Moscow. In reality, the biggest threat to conti nued Western support for Ukraine is posed not by the saber- ratt ling Kremlin but by Ukraine’s own squabbling However, while the circumstances do not Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, Euro- elites whose endless bickering and in-fi ghti ng has appear to favour Ukraine, there is litt le chance Atlanti c integrati on and democracy than has the done much to leave both US and EU leaders cold that this strategically crucial country will become EU. “In the past fi ve years those common values, and encourage the kind of hands-off approach a sacrifi cial lamb in the Obama regime’s eff orts values of democracy, values of free and fair elec- which characterized the early post-Soviet years. to mend fences with the Kremlin. Over the last ti ons, values of an independent press, indepen- two decades the US has enjoyed improved rela- dent media – those values have drawn us closer Geopoliti cal conditi ons do not ti ons with Russia at ti mes when it has either not together,” Ambassador Taylor added. favour Ukraine’s Westward march expressed much interest in Ukraine (1991-1993) Much has changed in Ukraine, Russia, the US or has had poor relati ons with Kyiv (2000-2004). Forcing Ukraine to get serious and internati onal politi cs since Bush’s 2002 visit While this may spark concern in Kyiv, in reality Obama’s overtures to the Kremlin may actually to Russia. Ukraine has gone through the Orange the US has never, and never will, dump Ukraine produce some positi ve results in Ukraine. Tradi- Revoluti on and fi ve years of President Yushchen- in the sense that Kuchma feared seven years ti onally, any sign of improving relati ons between ko’s questi onable leadership. Russia has played ago or some Ukrainians fear today. Even in the Moscow and Washington tends to provoke a musical chairs between the president and prime worst period of US-Ukraine relati ons following fl urry of geopoliti cal acti vity in Kyiv, although minister (Vladimir Puti n and Dmitri Medvedev) Kuchmagate and Kolchugagate (2000-2002), this is not always well-coordinated and has and has become more nati onalisti c, imperialisti c Ukraine, NATO and the US conti nued to deeply oft en been contradictory or plain confusing.
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