Scandal in Ukrainian parliament: deputies ignore the president

Today, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma delivered his annual address to the nation in the Supreme Rada, where the Cabinet of Ministers with Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh at the head and the heads of regional administrations gathered. However, Ukraine’s Socialist Party headed by Alexander Moroz and Julia Timoshenko’s coalition left the assembly hall.

In the address to the parliament, entitled “European choice,” Leonid Kuchma called upon deputies for joint work, Interfax-Ukraine informs. It was stressed that the president delivered his first address to a new Supreme Rada, which allowed him to ask “to start once again with a blank page.”

Leonid Kuchma called upon the parliamentarians for joint work within the next 2.5 years (the period of work of the new Supreme Rada) and added that work could be done more effectively if no efforts were spent on conflicts and opposition.

On May 31, the deputies received copies of the presidential address to the Supreme Rada under the title “European choice.” The document outlines an objectives for the next ten years: to completely develop the state structure for creation of “a mature, social democratic juridical state.”

It was decided that, starting with September 1, 2002, the address to the nation would be included into the program for obligatory school education. However, the two above-mentioned factions of the parliament ignored Kuchma’s address.

Alexander Gorobets PRAVDA.Ru Kiev Ukraine

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/18/42804.html