At today's press conference held in Lutsk by members of the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, people's deputies Yevhen Kyryllchuk (BеT) and Borys Zahreva ("Our Ukraine"), sharp criticism was expressed regarding the adopted State Budget for 2004 and the influence of the Cabinet of Ministers on its adoption.
"Last year the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada worked on a purely professional basis, regardless of the political affiliation of its members. When the committee wanted to increase the revenue part of the 2004 budget by 7 billion hryvnias, the Presidential Administration set the task not to agree to such an increase. After that, the politicization of the budget committee began," says people's deputy Borys Zahreva.
Yevhen Kyryllchuk believes that about 24 billion hryvnias are hidden in the 2004 budget, which are being accumulated to support the government's candidate in the presidential elections, and the Cabinet of Ministers is deliberately reducing the revenue part of the budget. Yevhen Ivanovych expressed his criticism toward the First Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, who represents the "Donetsk" group, as follows: "I thought that Azarov was a professional, a financial-budget professional. Now I am firmly convinced that he is merely a geologist. And he will never become one [a professional]."