Ukraine independents MPs call for urgent session to halt crisis

A group of independent MPs issued a statement on Feb. 18 condemning the violence and calling for an immediate parliamentary session to approve legislation to halt the crisis. It called for not interrupting the parliament’s work to resolve the conflict and reviewing all issues publicly, as a reference to the prior day’s events in which the ruling majority abandoned the session. “Ukraine is in fatal danger, enveloped by a civil war,” said the statement of 19 independent MPs, including a few from the ruling Party of Regions. “Forceful actions have been met by bloodshed and programs. Further attempts to stop the confrontation with words, urgings and mutual accusations are unacceptable and criminal.

Opposition politicians failed on Feb. 18 to convince enough MPs, including independent and those aligned with the Party of Regions, to include in the parliamentary agenda a bill that would return the 2004 constitutional amendments dividing state authority between the president and parliament. Parliamentary Head Volodymyr Rybak, a longtime ally to Yanukovych, refused to include the bill in the agenda, undermining the key effort by the Western government to provide for a legislative solution to the crisis. The session featured a few shoving matches.

Zenon Zawada: The pro-presidential parliamentary majority is eroding, if it hasn’t dissolved altogether already. The Yanukovych administration is dedicated to undermining any compromise to share power with the opposition, particularly a return of the 2004 constitutional amendments. Any such power-sharing agreement would mark the beginning of the end of the Yanukovych presidency, which is supported by about 20 percent of the Ukrainian population, according to polls.

So even if there are enough MPs to support the measure, as the statement of independent MPs appears to indicate, the parliamentary leadership will prevent such a bill from even being considered, as Rybak did on Feb. 18. Indeed it’s not an exaggeration to describe Ukrainian governance entering a dictatorship phase, which is the only means for Yanukovych to remain in power.