Court shifts Presidential powers in Ukraine
On the same day that he was hosting the President of Poland in Yalta at the summer palace, Viktor Yanukovich received a boost from Ukraine’s Constitutional Court. A constitutional ruling by Ukraine’s highest court in Kiev shifted more powers from parliament to the presidency, powers that had been taken away from the previous adminstration and given to the Parliment.
President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski (L) met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich (R) in Yalta.
On Friday the court struck down a controversial political reform passed in 2004. Now Ukraine’s president, not the legislature, names the country’s prime minister and other Cabinet members. The Constitution was hastily rewritten during the mass protests of the “Orange Revolution” that swept Viktor Yushchenko to power in 2004.
Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko called for immediate presidential and parliamentary elections saying that the decision raises questions about the legitimacy of the current president and parliament.
Meantime in the seaside city of Yalta, President Yanukovich invited the President of Poland to consider a project of modernization of the Ukrainian gas-transport system and potential role of Poland in this project,” according to the president. Mr. Yanukovych said that it would give Poland a chance to invest in and run the Ukrainian gas-transport system.
