Yushchenko's Attempts to Restore Presidential Power

After years of abuse by former President Leonid Kuchma, constitutional reform enacted in December 2004 diluted presidential authority while strengthening Parliament and the Prime Minister's office.  The law on the Cabinet of Ministers further decreased presidential power in January 2007.  With the opposition controlling the Verkhovna Rada, Yushchenko had no chance to regain his power.  With favorable democratic forces now holding a Parliamentary majority, Yushchenko recently submitting a package of bills aimed at increasing his authority, including the following directives:

• The President can disagree with the Parliamentary majority's choice for Prime Minister
• Parliament will no longer be able to dismiss the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense (the only two Yushchenko currently appoints)
• The Cabinet will have to accept and obey decisions made by the National Security and Defense Council (chaired by the President)
• Regional governors (appointed by the President) will have the right to veto the Cabinet's appointments to regional offices of Cabinet ministries

Yushchenko also wants the Interior Troops to be renamed "National Guard," and be answerable to the President instead of the Interior Minister.  Finally, he also believes the President, not the Cabinet, should appoint the chief of the Special Communications and Information Protection Service.

Attempting to assert himself and assume a more dominant role in government, in only one month, Yushchenko has handcuffed Tymoshenko in several ways:

• Postponed Tymoshenko's scheduled visit to Moscow to meet with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and Gazprom officials for disucssions on gas issues
• Withheld suppport of several key Cabinet appointments until the previously mentioned bills aimed at increasing presidential power are passed
• Disagreed with Tymoshenko's intentions to remove RosUkrEnergo from the natural gas trade between Ukraine and Russia
• Requested Tymoshenko drop her privitization plans for 2008, until the implementation can be more transparent.  Tymoshenko planned to use the proceeds to compensate Ukrainians for savings lost in the old Soviet savings bank

We'll have to monitor the situation to see if this is the beginning of a major rift in the relationship between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.  I assume Yushchenko will not dismiss her after seven months, like he did in 2005.  Yushchenko wants to run for a second term in 2009, and with Tymoshenko's current popularity, it would be a huge mistake to remove her from office and alienate her supporters.