15 October 2010, 10:09
Mykola Tomenko: Should the Standing Orders be amended, the Opposition has a Chance to adopt New Standards in its Activity
"Should the Standing Orders be amended, the opposition has a chance to adopt new standards in its activity", Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated in the interview to Levyi Bereh newspaper. M.Tomenko responded to the comment that such a concept as opposition disappeared after the abolition of the constitutional reform: "You can not be appointed to the opposition, you become the opposition." "In any case, the opposition should remain sustainable and efficient, regardless of some regulations in the Standing Orders," he stressed.
Dwelling upon the Law on the opposition adopted in the first reading, the Deputy Chairman stressed that "the country needs both parliamentary and local opposition with a fixed status." "After the local elections on October 31, the opposition may not get any important panel under its control in a great many local councils," M.Tomenko admitted.
"As to the opposition government, The Verkhovna Rada is no longer obliged to arrange conditions for it," the Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine declared. After the Standing Orders were amended, the Parliament no longer has to provide material and technical support of this body (provide an office, etc). Still, M.Tomenko considers it to be an advantage rather than a disadvantage, as the principles of work of the opposition should be revised, while the work of the opposition government should be re-organized and optimized. The Deputy Chairman also reminded that it is not only the deputies who can work in this government. "The opposition government should become an analytical center to generate new ideas, monitor the authorities, and suggest alternative actions plans. It should become a public opposition agency," Mykola Tomenko stated.