Leader of "Our Ukraine" Viktor Yushchenko stated at today's briefing that the government has proposed a flawed budget concept. "For the first time in Ukraine's history, the minimum wage has been lowered. Such a vote took place thanks to the position of people who do not live on 205 hryvnias. One can speak of two contexts - moral and legal.
The law that establishes the minimum wage at 237 hryvnias was adopted and signed by the president. Yesterday's revision of this law in parliament is a violation of Article 22 of the Constitution, which does not allow for the narrowing of citizens' rights," noted Viktor Yushchenko.
He advised the "Bolsheviks" not to forget the president's address to the Verkhovna Rada, which stated that the minimum wage should be increased to the level of the subsistence minimum.
According to him, the reduction of the wage was not considered in the relevant parliamentary committees - the budget committee and the committee on social policy and labor. Yushchenko emphasized that the cost of raising the minimum wage to 237 hryvnias is 5 billion, and he is convinced that this money can be found in the budget.
He stated that a completely different draft with changed GDP indicators and inflation levels was submitted for the second reading. "But this was not reflected in the budget balance. The budget deficit was increased by a billion, GDP grew by 9.6 billion, but it is unclear where 2.5 hryvnias from this sum went," noted the leader of "Our Ukraine."
"Our Ukraine" considers the projected figures for the growth of the road fund or capital investments inappropriate. For instance, the road fund was increased from 800 million to 2 billion. "Most of these funds go to specific districts where specific deputies work, who can be manipulated through such political bribes. The main discussion around the budget is whether financial resources will go through a legal scheme, through targeted assistance to specific people and an increase in the minimum wage, or whether we will go through a scheme of budget shadowing, where part of the funds through financing of certain sectors will go into the shadows, and only a tenth will be directed to people's needs. The government has proposed not a concept of a social budget, but its shadowing. This is an attempt, at the expense of lowering social standards, to strengthen directive decisions and create a base for the 2004 elections. These are financial reserves that the authorities are taking from the ordinary person to ensure administrative resources during elections," emphasized Yushchenko.
He stressed that "Our Ukraine" has never opposed the reduction of any social program. "If the government considers it possible to find 4 billion for the coal industry - we support it and will even demand that another 30% of funds be added. However, miners must realize that raising the minimum wage to 237 hryvnias will bring residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions 750 million hryvnias as direct targeted assistance.
In the current concept, all sectors of the national economy have remained outside the budget sphere. Today there is a contradiction between two concepts - support for the individual and for sectors of the economy where money is laundered, most of which does not reach the ordinary person," noted Viktor Yushchenko.
"Today 2/3 of people live on a wage of 180 hryvnias. Among these people are also family members of miners. We must care about targeted assistance to these people, rather than spending funds on political bribes," noted Yushchenko.
He reported that "Our Ukraine" is preparing an appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the unconstitutionality of the decision adopted by the government. "We demand that this sum be adjusted so that the budget is adopted with a minimum wage of 237 hryvnias," emphasized Yushchenko.
Today, Viktor Yushchenko and Vyacheslav Kyrylenko also registered a draft law on the phased raising of the minimum wage to the level of the subsistence minimum. According to this document, by mid-2005 the minimum wage must be brought up to the subsistence minimum.
Yushchenko cited examples where certain regions represented by majority deputies received significant funds on the eve of the second reading of the budget.
He believes that such a budget policy leads to an economy of stagnation.
"We are concerned that imports prevail over exports. The government needs to think about ensuring that the country does not find itself facing a payment and financial default. Political processes are negatively affecting the currency market and are forming a systemic crisis problem in Ukraine.
According to Yushchenko, the budget scandal was artificially introduced into the government, and now the Cabinet of Ministers is its hostage. "The government has no room for maneuver, because initially it proposed a minimum wage of 237 hryvnias, but the majority voted for 205 hryvnias. Talk about redistributing committees, about reshuffles in the government, about dissolving parliament - all of this lies in one plane - the creation of a political conflict. This is beneficial to the authorities, who are unable to win elections honestly, and therefore seek to create a climate of distrust between parliament and the government. "This is the road to creating an emergency situation in which elections will take place very specifically," emphasized Viktor Yushchenko.