ІНФОРМАЦІЙНИЙ ЛИСТ ПОСОЛЬСТВА УКРАЇНИ В ЕСТОНІЇ

UKRAINA SUURSAATKONNA EESTI VABARIIGIS INFOLEHT

08.06.07

Speech of President of Ukraine
H.E. Viktor A. Yushchenko at the Meeting
with Diplomatic Corps Representatives
in Ukraine
Kyiv, June 6, 2007

Through the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Ukraine, I would like to express my gratitude to all our external partners - foreign states, international organizations and public circles - for their support in democratic settlement of the parliamentary crisis in our country.
In your presence here, I want to underline the following - there can be no upheavals that may ever doubt the importance of effective cooperation between the President, the Verkhovna Rada and the Government of Ukraine, as well as the judicial system. This is my initial principle.
The President was and will remain to be an advocate of European parliamentarism in our state.
Ukraine has got very close to finally settle the parliamentary crisis by means of the early election.
We understand that the current political situation is far from being standard; we understand the vulnerability of the political practice and constrained non-typical decisions aimed at settlement of the crisis.
The most important is the fact that the settlement process is going peacefully, in a democratic way, and within political and legal field. We are continuing the tradition of civilized resolution of the most complicated issues.
Our basic reference-point is in a stable, responsible and obliging political solution; the sufficient use of all the necessary legal procedures; creation of efficient protective tools against any repeated crises and their reasons for such dangerous precedents not to happen again.
The early election is a legitimate, democratic, and civilized mechanism, which contains no extraordinary political or legal traces.
Just briefly about how the whole situation developed:
In response to the systemic constitutional abuses on April 2, 2007, President of Ukraine decided to preliminarily suspend the authorities of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 5th Convocation (according to his duties under the Constitution).

To bring the situation out of the god-forsaken place, create additional conditions for reaching constructive agreements and provide sufficient preparation for the early election, the President issued a new decree on April 26th, 2007, which postponed the early election date.
On May 4l, 2007 (in the course of the meeting of the President with the Prime-Minister), the main political parties of the state recognized political and legal necessity of having early parliamentary election and agreed on setting up a working group for negotiations.
In response to the sharpened political situation, the President, the Head of the Parliament and the Prime-Minister of Ukraine reached principle agreements on final settlement of the crisis on May 27th, 2007, which were reflected in a Joint Statement.
My position is clear. The President rejects settlement of the conflict with any force applied and considers inappropriate to involve law-enforcement bodies in the political process; the President firmly insists on strict adherence to all the undertaken obligations by the political parties.
The Joint Statement of May 27th opened a new way for full-fledged settlement of the crisis. This document determined political and legal settlement mechanisms and was approved as the act that will be diligently followed by all the signers.
The Joint Statement anticipated joint responsibility of the three sides for its fulfilling.
In this context, the Head of State created conditions for time-just recommencement of the Parliament to approve all the agreed legislative decisions required for the election, promoted dialog and compromise between the majority and the opposition, and signed laws adopted by the Parliament (amendments to the electoral legislation, WTO package and other social and economic documents).
The sides agreed that the Parliament should suspend its authorities based on Article 82 of the Constitution of Ukraine. In other words, the Parliament does not have or loses its proxies when over one-third of deputies - 150 and more persons -failed to keep or lost their mandates.
About 160 people's deputies of Ukraine have already resigned. Therefore, within the framework of the agreements, listings of Our Ukraine Party and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc were zeroed creating no possibility for restoring the corresponding deputy quotas.
Thus, according to the decision of the Constitutional Court as of October 17E , 2002, the validity of the Parliament shall be suspended.
This is a basic political and legal conclusion of today.

Therefore, I want to concentrate your attention on the key conclusions.
Firstly. The agreement reached on May 27th is a stable political and legal decision that must be fulfilled completely.
Ukraine cannot lose the chance to get away from the crisis. The fact of the gained understanding emphasizes the sufficient potential of the leading political parties to find the independent way out from the most complicated crisis situations.
Secondly- The President rejects the attempts by some of the political players to brake the reached agreements.
Revisionist actions of certain representatives of the parliamentary majority are inadmissible. Continuing the work of the invalid parliament and lack of weighted declarations are counter-productive.
The responsibility for the broken agreements is exercised by the direction of the Parliament of the 5 Convocation. It seems that there's another try to put us into resistance to safeguard posts and immunity for certain politicians.
Ukrainian society and our international partners should know those who never follow agreements creating major obstacles in settlement of the situation.
On behalf of Ukraine, I want to declare my official position - the Parliament of Ukraine of the 5* Convocation has lost its authority with the respective consequences under the international law.
I am asking you to deliver this verified fact to your capitals. From now, the people's deputies of the 5th Convocation may only carry on fulfilling authorities that are not directly related to the authorities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and its international representations.
Thirdly. In the course of the political agreements reached, on June 5l , I issued a decree to call the preliminary parliamentary election to take place on September 30 , 2007. The decree of May 26l shall be deemed as one that lost its validity.
My decision corresponds to the Constitution of Ukraine and is based on Article 82 of the Constitution and the corresponding decision by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued on October 17 \ 2002.
The decree is obligatory for execution. It states that the Central Electorate Commission of Ukraine shall provide necessary preparation and holding the preliminary parliamentary election within a 60-day period till September 30? . The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is commissioned with providing funds for the election.

From the political standpoint, the issued decree additionally guarantees the full-fledged execution of all the agreements prior to the election.
The preliminary parliamentary election is a key for stabilizing the situation in the country, overcoming the existing political contradictions and creating necessary grounds for restoring and acceleration of economic, social and constitutional reforms.
This is a necessary vaccination for Ukrainian politicians against violations of the Constitution of Ukraine, political irresponsibility, feeling of immunity, impunity, as well as political corruption.
I want to- stress this again — that will be my principle initiative to deprive people's deputies from their unlimited immunity.
The early election is the appeal to the will of the voters and strengthening of direct responsibility of politicians in the face of the citizens of Ukraine.
I firmly guarantee that the early election will be fair, democratic, and transparent, with a decent level of organization and in compliance with the international standards.
I flatly reject and will never allow any attempts of administrative pressure, any falsification or sabotage. Such attempts will bear criminal responsibility.
I'm officially inviting international spectators and observers to Ukraine.
Ukraine is grateful to all the international partners for their support and understanding. We highly value your contribution.
At the same time, Ukraine will assume any actions that can be interpreted as interference with internal issues unacceptable.
We rely on cooperation and partnership. I'm convinced that peaceful and democratic settlement of the parliamentary crisis in Ukraine will strengthen our domestic opportunities; it will give a new push to national development and with make the entire country stronger.
Thank you for your attention.