More Posing and Posturing Than an 1980's Vogue Party

Ukraine, at long last, passed the legislation necessary to get into the WTO.

The process began on July 1, when Parliamentary deputies agreed on the laws to be considered. From UNIAN (some editing for style by me):

According to Prime Minister Tymoshenko, all fourteen draft laws considered in Parliament were "agreed upon in detail."..."I think that both farmers and industrialists will support the initiatives next week," Tymoshenko added. She went on to say that Parliament will vote for these draft laws as a single package. [Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 1, 2005, via AUR]

When the vote came up on July 5, it was shot down:

The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday failed to vote on a package of bills necessary for the country's admission to the World Trade Organization, handing an embarrassing defeat to President Viktor Yushchenko who had made a personal appeal for support.

Lawmakers seized the rostrum and shouted "Shame" as Yushchenko watched dejected members of his government file out of the hall at the end of the evening parliamentary session.

The package of 14 bills had been considered a necessary step for Ukraine to join the world's top trade body. "It is a little test if we can accept these rules," Yushchenko said, addressing the parliament.

But lawmakers refused to put the measures up for a vote to protest against members of Yushchenko's government who refuse to surrender their parliamentary seats. Ukrainian law prohibits a person from holding a post in more than one branch of government and the issue was one that Yushchenko railed against when he was in the opposition. Under his government, the practice is even more widespread.

As Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, a Yushchenko ally, tried repeatedly to coax the lawmakers into setting the WTO bills up for a vote, the lawmakers shouted in protest.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who had predicted last week that the government had enough support to pass the package, sat next to Yushchenko, whispering in his ear. The session later broke up with faction leaders agreeing to meet to discuss what to do.

Foreign investors had urged Yushchenko to ensure the bills were passed before parliament breaks Friday for its summer recess. The request was one of the top proposals to emerge from the World Economic Forum investment conference held in Ukraine last month.

Oleksander Moroz, leader of the Socialist Party, said that by adopting the bills, "we would be destroying our own economy."

...

[Associated Press (AP), Tue, Jul 05 2005]

Lawmakers scuffled for a second day July 7 as parliament tried to debate controversial legislation needed for entry to the World Trade Organization, forcing the session to end early.

Communists and pro-government lawmakers shoved each other and threw punches, crushing up against Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn. Bodyguards escorted Lytvyn out of the hall through the shoving crowd.

Lytvyn adjourned the session after about two minutes, shouting to make himself heard above wailing sirens sounded by Communists. Lawmakers were scheduled to return in the evening for more debate.

President Viktor Yushchenko's government is determined to push through the 14-bill package, whose passage, foreign investors say, will be a critical test of the government's pro-West ambitions.

But Communists and the Socialist Party have launched aggressive attacks, warning that the legislation would make the economy subservient to foreign demands.

Lytvyn had said earlier that the package could still pass "but for this, we need patience and time." But pressure is building because lawmakers adjourn for summer recess on July 8.

The latest turmoil erupted after lawmakers approved changes to an insurance law and on export tariffs on seeds, which were part of the WTO package. Communists sounded shrill sirens and jammed around the rostrum, before the fighting broke out.

Only three of the WTO measures have been adopted, but the most critical part of the entire 14-bill package - legislation on copyright protection - was adopted July 6.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who again came to parliament to see through the legislation, said she was optimistic the package would pass.

The pro-Yushchenko faction, Our Ukraine, said opposition's actions would "isolate Ukraine from the integration process ... (and) threaten national security."

Gaining WTO membership is seen as a major goal for the new pro-Western government, which needs massive amounts of foreign investment to raise living standards in this nation of 48 million. Yushchenko's government hopes to receive an invitation to join the WTO at the trade organization's fall meeting.

Officials also fear that Russia will win WTO membership this year, then impose new conditions on Ukraine, delaying Kyiv's admission. 

[Associated Press (AP), Jul 07 2005]

Which, in a fascinating bit of weasel, Lytvyn blames wholly on the Cabinet, then says he's supporting it because it's his job to do whatever they tell him to do:

...Interviewed live on state-run UT1 TV's "In Focus" show on 7 July, Lytvyn said the bills were poorly reasoned and failed to take the risks of WTO accession into account.

"The proposed bills are far from containing sufficient reasoning. They just say that joining the WTO would be good for Ukraine," Lytvyn said. "They do not mention the risks to farming and machine-building above all."

However, Lytvyn added that he and his People's Party faction voted for the bills to express their support for the government's and President Viktor Yushchenko's programme.

"We proceeded from the idea that the government should be given carte blanche so that it can implement its declared programme," Lytvyn said.

Speaking about fighting which erupted in the session hall as opposition MPs protested against the draft laws necessary for WTO entry, Lytvyn said it showed how divided Ukrainian society is.

"What is going on in parliament is a sign that the authorities are in crisis," he said. "This indicates that society is not calm, that it has different views and interests. We are not consolidated."

[UT1, Thurs, 7 Jul 05; Translated by BBC Monitoring Service; via AUR]

For a play-by-play coverage of the brawl, you can go to Ukrainska Pravda here. More mediocre translation, but it's still funny.

By the next day, they'd managed to pass 8 of the 14 total bills. Considering the Communist megaphones-and-headbutts approach, the AP's comment that they "only" got the eight seems annoyingly pessimistic:

"We have to work together. Not all political forces realize that Ukraine may pay a high price if it delays its integration into Europe," Yushchenko said at his Our Ukraine party congress.

Yushchenko's words followed parliament's failure to adopt a package of 14 laws crucial for accession this autumn to the WTO, the body that sets global trade rules. Before breaking up for its summer recess this week, the Ukrainian parliament adopted only eight bills during two stormy sessions marred by brawls among lawmakers.

One of the bills was a copyright law--a crucial test for the government's pro-Western ambitions.

On Friday, Volodymyr Lytvyn, the parliament speaker, said that parliament would consider all of the remaining bills in September when the 450-strong parliament reconvenes.

Yushchenko and his Cabinet tried to push through the entire package of 14 bills, but Communists and Socialist Party deputies opposed that, claiming that the legislation would make Ukraine subservient to Western demands.

"Communists ruled Ukraine for seven decades ... we cannot overcome that in a day," the president said. Yushchenko however said he was convinced that Ukraine will be able to join the WTO this year...

[Aleksandar Vasovic, Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Sat, Jul 09, 2005, via AUR]

...The usual suspects were responsible for the obstruction: members of the Communist and Socialist party factions, and of the bitterly oppositionist Regions of Ukraine and Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) parties.

We use the word “obstruction” because that’s all this really is. WTO membership would be a massive triumph for President Viktor Yushchenko and forward-looking elements in Ukraine – and so the likes of the Regions of Ukraine party, and the rest of them, are obliged to stop it at all costs.

An indication of the sophisticated thinking that motivates the anti-WTO forces is Socialist leader Oleksandr Moroz’s July 5 comment that passing the bills would amount to “destroying our own economy.” Sure it would. The obstructionists’ claim that they wanted to protest the fact that Yushchenko allies persist in holding parliament seats and government posts at the same time is likewise nonsense. Yes, the double-dipping is unconstitutional and Yushchenko should end it. But since when are, say, Regions of Ukraine deputies so sensitive to the odor of corruption?...