Ukrainian President Returns Cabinet Law to Parliament

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has imposed another veto on the law on the Cabinet of Ministers, which has significantly cut his executive powers in favour of the government and which Yushchenko regards as unconstitutional. Although parliament overrode his veto on 12 January, Yushchenko yesterday said he would not sign the law because the text of the law passed initially differed from the law put to the vote to override his veto on 12 January. Parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz insisted in a letter to Yushchenko that the veto was overridden in full compliance with legislation. The following is an excerpt from a report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN:

Kiev, 19 January: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has returned the law “On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” with his suggestions to parliament for repeat consideration in line with Part 2 of Article 94 of the constitution.

Yushchenko’s press service said that the first deputy head of the presidential secretariat and the president’s representative to the Cabinet of Ministers, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, will present the president’s suggestions when parliament considers the mentioned law at its plenary session.

[Passage omitted: background]

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