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Ukrainian PM asks president to rejoin coalition government

The Ukrainian president cried foul on Wednesday after parliament clipped his presidential powers — with more bad news in store as diplomats said hopes of EU membership would be deflated at a summit next week.

Members of parliament from President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party pulled out of the ruling pro-Western coalition it shared with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s party during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The presidential party condemned new laws passed on Tuesday by the Tymoshenko Bloc and the pro-Moscow opposition that would reduce Yushchenko’s powers and make it easier to impeach him.

Yushchenko described the vote as a bid to establish a “dictatorship of the prime minister.”

“A political and constitutional coup d’etat has started in the parliament,” Yushchenko said in a speech televised Wednesday.

Despite sharing her pro-West political goals, including accession to NATO and the EU, Tymoshenko has often been sharply at odds with the president and there is intense personal rivalry between the two.

Tymoshenko insisted that the purpose of the new laws was to clearly distinguish the offices of president and prime minister, and accused Yushchenko of destroying the pro-Western alliance.

“The real reason the president has declared this war against me personally and against all the democratic team is sadly enough to ensure his victory in the next presidential elections,” Tymoshenko said.

She promised to launch talks starting yesterday aimed at “consolidating” the political elite.

“I am convinced that the work of the democratic coalition will be renewed,” Tymoshenko later said in a televised address. “You have 10 days ... to return to the coalition.”

The political fallout could make Ukraine’s EU bid lose even more steam.

France, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, recently warmed to Ukraine’s candidature, the French ambassador said.

However, after fresh talks by ambassadors of the 27 EU nations on Wednesday, a draft declaration prepared for an EU-Ukraine summit in Evian, France, next Tuesday tells another story, diplomats said.

EU member states agree that the partnership agreement currently being negotiated with Ukraine should be called an “Association Agreement” — the term used for similar pacts with Balkan nations which have a recognized future within the European bloc.

However, the draft declaration makes no mention of the key “European perspective” for Ukraine, which Kiev had been hoping for and which is familiar eurospeak for an eventual goal of EU membership.
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