Business sharks ask Yushchenko: do you take us for fools?

Victor Andriyovych only just left for Switzerland to take part in the World Economic Forum, when Yulia Volodymirivna, who had accumulated a lot of energy and labor enthusiasm during her illness, queered a huge pitch for the President.

First of all: the Prime Minister claimed that, actually, the privatization in Ukraine should be carried out exactly by her rules – those, which were criticized by the Secretariat of the President for several times. The fact is that Tymoshenko is about to include into all privatization agreements the provisions, stipulating that an agreement may be denounced at any time, without any court ruling, only by a joint decision of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Property State Fund of Ukraine, and, in this case, the money shall not be retuned to the investor!

In response to indignant retorts from the Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister said that nobody derogates the right of an investor to file an appeal in court against this mess.

The second peal of thunder in the clear sky sounded in the following way: the Cabinet of Ministers approved of the resolution, allowing tax and customs services employees, as well as that of “other agencies, busy with levying taxes” ( it’s interesting, who is that?) not to fulfill “evidently illegal court rulings”.

At the same time, Yulia Volodymirivna, who personally informed journalists about “the good news”, did not specify, who, and by what right, will determine “evidently illegal” court rulings.

The Prime Minister`s statements confirming her intent to do revise the price of the Russian gas transit to Europe, which was earlier categorically opposed by Yushchenko, let the President forgive me, looks really insipid. And he, probably, will not have spare time to pay attention to the gas transit in the nearest future. Unless, he will have to hear at the [World Economic] forum some endearing words from the European partners, on the topic of Ukraine’s “reliability” as a transit country for energy resources.

And the main gag, if it is possible to put it so, is another point. The President went to Davos with a “thick briefcase”, with which he hoped to interest the potential investors.

And what will they say to him now? I do not know how the business sharks will like the idea to part with honestly bought enterprises without any trial, but a normal person in this situation would say: “Do you take me for a fool?”. Moreover, even if an investor wins everything back in court, Yulia Volodymyrivna may forbid the fulfillment of the court’s ruling as  “evidently illegal” with one scratch of the pen.

By the way, it may happen that the answer of “moneybags” to Yushchenko’s alluring proposals will be a remark that, in the light of all the recent statements of the Prime Minister, Ukraine delegated not a right person for negotiations on attracting investments… And also he may hear a friendly advice to sweep his own house before inviting guest there.

By the way, following the logic of the Prime Minister, probably, it would be right to allow the population not to pay for “evidently low-quality” goods and services. And for employers – to refuse pay the wage for “evidently poor” work. And everybody will be happy and satisfied. Or not?

By Vira Soroka, Kyiv