Party of the Regions commissioned material prepares way for Vilnius fiasco

The headline reads: Tymoshenko’s Release: the Opposition are letting down the Ukrainian people

Roman Kabachiy from the Institute for Mass Information shares worrying conclusions about the amount of commissioned material (dzhynsa) which the ruling party is placing in the media.  The fervor with which they are pushing the idea that it’s the opposition who bear “the blame” for failed European integration suggests serious plans to not sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in Vilnius.

Kabachiy writes that analysts and politicians are increasingly inclined to think that those in power are not planning to sign the Association Agreement.  He cites journalist Vakhtang Kipiani and the Deputy Director of the Razumkov Centre Valery Chaly.  The latter called Yanukovych’s attempt to place responsibility for Tymoshenko’s pardon on parliament an attempt to find somebody to blame for the non-signing of the Agreement.

Kabachiy looks at material placed by the Party of the Regions in Segodnya, a newspaper close to the party. The material in October does not in fact count as dzynsa since it is openly presented as advertising, though with certain infringements of the rulings for marking such documents.

He says that it is clear from this material that preparation has been under way for some time for Monday’s news about a supposed “new case against Tymoshenko” (see: http://khpg.org/1383607600) and the statements from Regions Party MP V. Oliynyk about her not being let abroad without returning money supposedly stolen from the state.  The enemies of European integration are presented as Tymoshenko herself. Or Europe.

Kabachiy then turns to dzhynsa written in the Regions Party headquarters, and says that there are clearly distinct lines which are being pushed.  

These concentrate on:

-          accusing the opposition of not supporting European integration laws, and specifically one of them – regarding guarantees of judges’ independence  (the sticking points are life tenure for the Prosecutor General and effective control over appointment of judges by the president;  see http://khpg.org/1381435053).  He names two commissioned articles in Segodnya: “Is the opposition conning with European integration?” by Andriy Lyubimov and “The opposition is sabotaging European integration laws” by Anton Seleznyov.  Neither article even addresses the very real grounds given by the opposition for objecting to the bill which they consider will give Yanukovych unlimited power over the judiciary.

-          the Tymoshenko situation and claims that her release is totally impossible under present legislation; that a solution will be found “”perhaps before the summit, maybe during the summit, maybe after it” – Oliynyk); or that the opposition has no interest in Tymoshenko’s release because they’re worried that it’s Yanukovych who seems to be moving the country to European integration (the article by Seleznyov).

-          Another theme concentrates on a “balance of relations”, suggesting the need for mechanisms of cooperation with both the EU and the Customs Union.

Kabachiy says that the risk that the Association Agreement will not be signed has never been greater and it would appear that the Party of the Regions are not overly worried by this.