Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, informed that the President had criticized the Party of Regions and supported the opposition in the question of pension reform.
M. Tomenko reminded of a peculiar discussion of the pension reform. After the Government called for raising the retirement age, and the Parliament discussed this issue, it became obvious that Ukraine should first implement the pension reform, instead of raising the retirement age.
The Deputy Chairman stressed that all the parties supported the pension reform. However, a good strategy presupposes consultations with the experts and public. Hence, Mykola Tomenko and Valerii Sushkevych registered the draft resolution on the parliamentary hearings "Pension Reform as a Part of the Economic Reform." "However, after this resolution was discussed in the Verkhovna Rada, only the Party of Regions faction strongly objected to its adoption, claiming that the problem did not exist", the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine admitted.
At the yesterday´s sitting of the National Security and Defense Council, Viktor Yanukovych called for holding the parliamentary hearings on the pension reform.
M. Tomenko believes that the situation is controversial. "If the Party of Regions supported our resolution, the hearings would have been already organized," he stated.