According to People's Deputy Kateryna Fomenko, the situation in 25 regions of Ukraine, which are the main producers of GDP, is currently catastrophic. In Zhytomyr region, 25 schools were closed; in the city of Lubny in Poltava region, 70 healthcare workers were laid off. In Dnipropetrovsk region, 7 medical facilities were forced to close. Therefore, said the deputy, the draft budget for 2006 is "the same populism."

According to People's Deputy Kateryna Vashchuk, the government, apart from declaring 2006 the year of the village, "has done nothing more." The amount of expenditures in the budget for the village is set the same as last year. According to her, 14 billion hryvnias should be allocated from the budget for village development, while "4 billion hryvnias - for expenditures and no less than 2 billion hryvnias - for social development." "If this does not happen, the village will be on the brink," emphasized Vashchuk, reports "proUA."

According to People's Deputy Volodymyr Maistryshyn, the budget also says nothing about how the government will take care of entrepreneurs, and no constructive energy-saving program in Ukraine has been formulated.

Vashchuk emphasized that the faction would like its position to be heard by Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov and President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. According to People's Deputy Kateryna Fomenko, the faction submitted its proposals regarding the 2006 budget, but they were rejected.

The faction is concerned that in a month deputies will be forced to vote for such a "consumption budget" draft for 2006. Therefore, according to Ihor Yeremieiev, the faction demands the creation of a parliamentary commission to correct mistakes and refine the 2006 budget. "We are ready to work for a month to create a constructive budget," he said, adding that "this is not a demarche, but the faction's position."

According to Fomenko, such a position of the faction regarding the new 2006 budget is due to the fact that in Ukraine already in November-December there will be nothing to pay wages with.

Deputy Serhii Tereshchuk added that the faction demands cutting expenditures on several items that cannot be controlled. "We can also find 10% for the village," added Fomenko.

Answering journalists' questions, Fomenko noted that the faction held talks with Yuliia Tymoshenko's government, "but then the revolution had just taken place... and we could not fail to support the government." She recalled Yushchenko's words that "Ukraine can withstand such a budget only once," so, as the deputy noted, "why should we adopt it again."

According to her, if the government does not heed the faction's proposals, the Rada will be forced to "create its own budget and adopt it." Yeremieiev emphasized that the political forces in the parliament will understand the faction's demands and there will be no need to block the rostrum.