Maidan

By signing the law on the judicial system on 27 July President Yanukovych ignored Ukraine’s Constitution, calls from a large number of civic organizations and individuals, and concern expressed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and showed just what all the present regime's fine-sounding words and assurances are worth

On why the Law on the Judicial System and Status of Judges, passed with blitzkrieg speed by the ruling coalition without awaiting a full assessment from the Venice Commission could destroy any judicial independence and seriously jeopardize Ukraine’s democratic development.

The endless talk about public broadcasting multiplied by total lack of political will has resulted in a dangerous situation where people no longer believe that it will be introduced, and don’t especially understand why they need it, and the government apparently believes it can foist any imitation and people will not notice the difference.

SBU treatment of Nico Lange, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Kyiv and author of a critical article about the regime can only exacerbate fears about the direction the present regime is taking and especially the disturbingly Soviet role the Security Service is taking on

June 17, 2010

Principal risks related to imminent adoption of the tax code

Dear Ladies and Sirs!

In connection with the circumstance that the government has planned adoption of the tax code for the nearest future we would like to provide you with brief outline of the principal issues which trigger material risks for the business and introduce drastic changes to relations with tax authorities.

100 days it took to come up with a speech about wrenching the country out of crisis and to jeopardize Ukraine’s fairly modest achievements on the road to democracy. At the moment the authorities respond to criticism. With words, yet those demonstrate that they cannot do without an imitation of democracy. And if imitation doesn’t suit?

Wanton destruction of century-old trees in Kharkiv’s Gorky Park and lawless violence apparently countenanced by both the city authorities and the police have outraged environmental, human rights and media organizations. Leading environmental groups have called on UEFA to exclude Kharkiv from the cities hosting Euro-2012. Football is quite simply not worth the price.

Good to read so many nice words on the President’s website about how “criticism from opponents is a vital component of democratic society” and how he is awaiting constructive proposals. No problem with nice words only how are you to determine which proposals are constructive when the traffic police, the Security Service, the media and others don’t let you hear them?

I would like to ask one key question: how many trials do we have to still go through before we understand that the old Soviet model of subjugating university rectors by making them dependent is a relic of a totalitarian era which we have supposedly put aside?

When do you notice that something’s missing? It's not always easy, especially when media coverage, which has become bland, vapid, and lacking in discussion and analysis, was not exactly hard-hitting to begin with. Media specialists in Ukraine expressed concern, within weeks of President Viktor Yanukovych’s inauguration in late February, over measures increasing government influence over the media.