Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has stated that President Viktor Yushchenko is refusing to contact her to discuss the issue of preserving the democratic coalition.

 

“I have initiated such a meeting many times, but, unfortunately, the President doesn’t believe it’s necessary to hold one,” said Tymoshenko during a press conference.

 

To demonstrate how the President is ignoring her attempts to contact him, the Prime Minister, in the presence of journalists, called President Viktor Yushchenko from her office in the Cabinet. After not getting a reply, Tymoshenko told journalists that this has been going on for the last 6 months.

 

“This is a direct line to the President. The President and Prime Minister always answer this phone, under any circumstances. It (the telephone), as they say, works without secretaries,” she explained.

 

“But during the last 6 months this telephone has been working in one direction, and when I pick up the receiver I only hear rings that nobody ever answers,” stated Tymoshenko.

 

According to Tymoshenko, if the President is not in his office, his secretary transfers the phone to himself and promises to call back.

 

“My calls aren’t transferred and nobody calls back. And when this crisis started, I picked up this receiver many times, but never obtained an answer, a scheduled meeting, or any dialogue,” noted Tymoshenko.

 

The Prime Minister underscored that she tried many times to reach Yushchenko, but never received an answer or a scheduled meeting.

 

Tymoshenko was unable to say when was the last time she had a tête-à-tête with Yushchenko.

 

According to her, the President “is directly forbidding his faction to restore the coalition with BYuT.”

 

“All the factions are ready to unite – BYuT, the Lytvyn Bloc, and OU-PSD. The only one who doesn’t want this coalition is the President. And that’s why he needs to appeal not to the deputies, but personally to me, and decide on his own the fate of the country for the benefit of creating a democratic coalition,” said Tymoshenko.

 

“Our faction has collected 155 signatures in favor of restoring the coalition, signed the coalition agreement and fulfilled all the President’s ultimatums. After this, there is nothing that we can do so that the President gives the command to part of his faction to create the coalition,” said Tymoshenko. 

 

She also noted that at the given moment BYuT hasn’t received an invitation for consultations with the President about the possible dissolving of parliament.

In addition, the Prime Minister underscored that the President doesn’t have the right to dissolve parliament until November 23. According to her, this is a constitutional norm according to which parliament can’t be dissolved earlier than a year after the start of the work of the previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada. “If he does this, it’s a violation of the Constitution,” noted Tymoshenko.