PM nominee Azarov calls for 'realistic' 2010 budget

March 11, 2010

Party of Region's head Mykola Azarov, nominated today for the post of PM by Ukraine's newly-elected President Viktor Yanukovych, told Ukraine's parliament the Rada that the state coffers were "empty" and that a "realistic" budget would have to be redrafted for 2010, according to Interfax Ukraine.

"The country has been plundered, the coffers are empty, state debt has risen threefold ... The main task today is to redraft and get approved a realistic budget," he told parliament. Azarov, a former finance minister and close ally of Yanukovich, who was head of Party of Regions until becoming president, also said: "We will eliminate the financial problems created by the previous government."

A new parliamentary coalition formed under Yanukovych's tutelage today nominated Azarov for the post. The coalition numbers 235 deputies and comprises the Party of Regions, now temporarily led by Azarov, the Communists, the bloc of parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, and several independent deputies.