People’s deputy

FILE Lawmaker of Ukraine counting money in the session hall of the parliament, in Kyiv, on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine secretly increased its financing by UAH 100 million. The Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada sent a law on alteration of the state budget – 2009 for signature of the President at the end last week. The initiator of the document is the Cabinet of Ministers, which proposed at the cost of additional earnings into treasury (increasing of excise on beer (near UAH 300 million) to finance a range of social spending, including providing of people, who have diabetes mellitus, with insulin. However during the voting parliament members introduced into the law a norm on increasing of provisional expenses of the Verkhovna Rada by UAH 97 million this year. This turn of events completely contradicts to numerous statements of lawmakers concerning necessity of total economy and reducing of expense for keeping of officials. In January lawmakers reduced their keeping by UAH 118 million compared with 2008. At first parliament economized at small articles: reduced guarding of parliamentary premises and spending for telephone talks. After that lawmakers under the pressure of the government reduced salaries for themselves and their assistants. However, in spite of numerous statements, they did not get down to considerable reducing of privileges. The government explained the necessity of increasing the prices on beer production by necessity of financing of some socially important projects. Particularly, people with diabetes mellitus had to receive UAH 160 million in order to buy insulin, Lviv citizens had to receive UAH 105 million for twenty-four-hour providing with water and Shevchenko national reserve in Kanev had to receive UAH 22.5 million. Photo Aleksandr Kosarev/UNIAN