Parliament remitted for revision last Thursday the budget resolution determining the 2001 budget guidelines as proposed by the President. It was actually the first step in wrecking the budget-drafting schedule (under the law the budget resolution must be adopted before June 15). Before putting it to vote, the budget committee and Cabinet prepared a coordinated draft resolution and even earlier Premier Yushchenko asked the MP group Working Ukraine to support the draft. The Finance Minister addressed the MPs with the same request on the day of the vote. In particular, Mr. Mytiukov proposed adopting the coordinated draft resolution as a basis and then make whatever adjustments would be necessary. However, shortly before the vote the MPs received the President’s proposal for remitting the draft for revision. The President’s message contained a number of critical remarks, particularly that the resolution does not reflect the new taxation principles. The message caused the budget committee to respond rather sharply. In the words of its chairman, Oleksandr Turchynov, “this is apparently a new practice in parliamentary activities. Previously, the President would deal with the Cabinet as a body under his direct command and I think this type of cooperation was rather effective. Now the President actually bypasses the Cabinet, forwarding a message to the Speaker, so that the Verkhovna Rada would disregard the understanding reached previously between Parliament and Cabinet.”
In the end, the MPs voted for the President’s proposal and remitted all three budget resolutions for revision. Now the budget committee and Cabinet have the hard task of working out a new general draft resolution, allowing for the President’s proposals. This is likely to be a protracted and complicated process, because the budget committee and Cabinet are divided on the kind of taxation system to be adopted as a basis (there are five drafts for the new Tax Code, offering polarized approaches to certain aspects). Oleksandr Turchynov stated that, although the taxation problem should not be the subject of the budget resolution, elements of the new taxation system will be included in the project resolution if the cabinet moves to support the President’s proposal. By Andriy MYSELIUK ,
