US Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s visit to Kyiv was above all a demonstration of support for the government of Viktor Yushchenko, who has at least and at last started real reform. She did the right thing. This may be Ukraine’s last chance to pull itself out of the hole previous governments dug it into by piling up debts in order to put off revamping the state apparatus and its functions to a point the country can afford and a point where the state’s economic demands (taxes and regulations) can be reduced to the point where legitimate business is both possible and profitable. And as I have repeatedly emphasized, everything the government does should be judged by the West primarily through this prism. Objectively, the West and the vast majority of people of Ukraine have a common interest in Ukraine’s economic prosperity. The West knows that with the current Ukrainian economy, it will never be paid back what it is owed. The people want to live decently. And unless reform is carried out in the sense I have defined it, neither will happen.
In the referendum to no one’s surprise all four questions passed. Even without any changes in the law, the balance of power has already shifted in the President’s favor. Verkhovna Rada has been weakened to the point where with strong backing by President Kuchma the legislative changes needed for reform can be pushed through. Without such backing, they will not pass. The West has its own levers of influence on this nation’s chief executive and should not be shy about using them to encourage him to support the policies of a Prime Minister who is not really his own.
I cannot say I approve of Mr. Yushchenko’s every initiative. Viktor Pynzenyk is right is criticizing the Premier’s initiative to issue a new batch of Internal Government Bonds because the last thing this country needs is to run up more debts. Moreover, the fiasco with the previous IGB issues makes the whole thing look like a less than bright idea. Revenues were short of what they were projected to be. In this country revenues are always short of the budget figures. Yes, there is money that can be sucked out of the commercial banks, which will buy the bonds whether they want to or not, but the point is that the government needs to find every possible way to take less out of the economy and not to look where to get money to pay for what this country simply cannot afford. European type Social Democracy is possible only when the economy can afford it. This is not a question of values but of realities. Western governments and financial institutions would do well to make their views known to the Prime Minister here as well.
