Mykola Tomenko: I would not like a Great Presidential War to start on 22 June in Ukraine
"It is symbolic that a great presidential war has been actually launched on 22 June, the day the Great Patriotic War had started", - stated Mykola Tomenko, Vice-Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in the interview after the sitting of the Conciliative Council. According to the Vice-Chairman, it is due to the fact that all the factions resolved to fix the ultimate date of presidential elections 17 January.
M.Tomenko stressed that the next session week would be complicated as regards budget issues, and the Parliament would have to make certain compromises. "It is apparent that even if the Budget Code is adopted, the President will not sign it. Therefore, we should look for another way of drafting the budget, for example, by means of parliamentary hearings", - stressed M.Tomenko.
As far as the personnel issues are concerned, M.Tomenko stated that certain personnel resolutions were possible in the next plenary week.
As far as the Bill on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2009" that envisages a unitary approach to the taxation of alcoholic beverages, esp. increase of the excise duty for a certain category of beer is concerned, M.Tomenko stated that The Verkhovna Rada would scrutinize it and most certainly uphold it in a new version.
However, M.Tomenko also suggested analyzing financial activity of the State Administration Department and setting up a temporary inquiry panel of The Verkhovna Rada to study the said issue.
As far as the Bills appertaining to the activity of the local self-government bodies are concerned, M.Tomenko stressed that "the local self-government required Constitutional amendments".
Finally, the Vice-Chairman predicted that the next plenary week would be informative, active and interesting.