Poroshenko meets with faction heads to discuss blockade consequences

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a meeting the evening of March 20 with the heads of parliamentary factions and groups in which he discussed the consequences of the government’s trade blockade with the occupied territories of Donbas, including the postponement of the USD 1 bln IMF tranche, the pravda.com.ua news site reported. The president sought to stabilize the political situation in the country, his website said. Participants also discussed organizing the parliament’s work and common tasks between the parliament and Cabinet, in which the prime minister participated, said MP Iryna Lutsenko. Among the specific topics were candidates to the Central Election Commission and reformatting the state auditing office.

Earlier that day, Poroshenko told a council meeting that he opposes categorically early parliamentary elections, which are being demanded by certain pro-Western opposition parties. He said he regularly monitors political polls and sees no more potential for reforms with new elections. An election campaign would postpone any reforms by a year, at minimum, “and the new Rada would be so motley and dispersed that a new coalition would be impossible,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: Rather than pursuing a long-term strategy of Ukraine’s development, the president is playing a game of day-to-day political survival. He has constantly wriggled himself free from difficult positions, as with taking control of the trade blockade imposed by activists, only to have new problems emerge, such as the loss of the IMF tranche. It’s widely agreed that early elections won’t solve Ukraine’s problems with reforms. But the president’s own lack of a consistent, effective reforms agenda means that the day may come when he can’t wriggle free from a crisis that implodes.