[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: news flash AP, PDP (2); FT

[Deychak, Orest]

AP

New coalition in Ukraine after months of deadlock 

9 December 2008

11:15

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine's new Parliament speaker says lawmakers have created a three-party governing coalition, ending months of deadlock amid a severe financial crisis.

The new coalition puts back together the fractured alliance of President Viktor Yushchenko and his rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, plus a smaller party.

The move ends more than three months of political infighting that came with Ukraine facing a financial meltdown caused by the global credit crunch.

The announcement was made by Volodymyr Lytvyn, the shrewd former Parliament speaker who played an important role during the 2004 Orange Revolution.

He was re-elected as speaker Tuesday evening.

Parliamentary Development Project (2 updates)

PDP Update from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

December 9, 2008

www.iupdp.org <http://www.iupdp.org>  


Ukrainian Parliament elects Volodymyr Lytvyn new speaker


 

Volodymyr Lytvyn was today elected the new speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament. A total of 244 MPs voted in the evening plenary sitting to install him in the post, thereby overcoming the minimum of 226 votes necessary. The voting consisted of three votes from the opposition Party of Regions, 154 members of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, 40 members of the propresidential Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defence bloc, all 27 members of the Communist Party and all 20 members of the Lytvyn Bloc. Lytvyn was the only candidate proposed for the post. 

 

Volodymyr Lytvyn, the head of the Lytvyn Bloc, was parliamentary speaker for four years, between 2002 and 2006, and was former President Leonid Kuchma's chief of staff before assuming the post of speaker in 2002. Today’s election of Lytvyn comes after protracted talks between all political forces on the election of a new speaker and the formation of a new parliamentary coalition.  

 

PDP Update from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

December 9, 2008


New ruling coalition formed in Ukrainian Parliament


 

A new ruling coalition has been formed in the Ukrainian Parliament, the newly elected parliamentary speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn, announced in his speech after being elected to the position. The new coalition consists of the progovernment Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the factions of the propresidential Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defence and the Lytvyn Bloc, the speaker announced.

President Yushchenko dissolved Parliament and announced an early election after the then ruling coalition of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine People's Self-Defence collapsed in September 2008. 

 Financial Times

Gazprom dispute with Ukraine grows

By Ed Crooks in London and Roman Olearchyk in Kiev 

Published: December 9 2008 02:00 

The bitter gas supply dispute between Moscow and Kiev escalated yesterday when Russia's Gazprom revealed the two sides were far from reaching an agreement and warned Ukraine would not be allowed to "steal" gas.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of the state-controlled gas company, told the Financial Times that talks with Ukraine about debts and future prices were still "far away from a settlement" but he hoped a deal could be reached this year.

However, he quoted Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, as having "made a very clear statement that if Ukraine tries to steal the gas, we will not tolerate this situation".

Kiev and Moscow have quarrelled over how much Ukraine should pay for gas since the early 1990s in a dispute that led to severe supply disruptions and soaring prices in some European Union countries in the winter of 2005-06. Russian imports supply about 25 per cent of the EU market and about 80 per cent of that gas flows through Ukraine.

In a similar dispute a year ago, Gazprom reduced supplies to Ukraine without a significant effect on the EU.

However, with the global financial crisis putting pressure on both sides, tensions are rising ahead of a new supply agreement due to take effect on January 1. Gazprom believes it is owed about $2.4bn (€1.85bn, £1.6bn) for unpaid bills up to the end of November, and has been paid only a "marginal" amount following an agreement last month for Ukraine to pay off some of its debt.

Gazprom executives will meet European Commission officials in Brussels today in an attempt to explain its determination to make Ukraine pay up.

The Russian company thinks Brussels might be able to exert some influence to help bring about a solution, or can at least be persuaded that if supplies are disrupted, the fault will not entirely lie with Gazprom.

Ukraine's leaders have in recent days pledged that their country would do everything in its power to avoid a repeat of disruptions in Russian exports to the EU.

However, officials at Naftogaz, Ukraine's national gas company, struggled yesterday to predict how debts owed to Gazprom would be settled or when a price agreement for next year would be signed.

Gazprom says it has been making every effort to avoid cutting off Ukraine's gas, including allowing some of the payments to be deferred.

Gazprom is also seeking to finalise an October deal between Mr Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's prime minister, in which the price paid by Ukraine will rise to EU levels by 2011. The details of the transition are still not agreed.

Ukraine is paying $179.50 per thousand cubic metres of gas compared with an expected EU price of $400 in the first half of next year.

Mr Putin said last week: "How can we keep the same prices if our Ukrainian partners are still getting gas twice as cheaply as Europe? Try to come to any store in Germany and say that you want to get a Mercedes for free or at half price. Who will sell it at half price?"

Naftogaz said yesterday: "The global financial crisis, namely the sliding Ukrainian currency, has complicated our efforts to settle this debt. We are currently in talks with Ukrainian and foreign banks to refinance this debt."

 

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