KIEV, Jan. 21 ??“ Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz on Saturday challenged President Viktor Yushchenko as he had promised to sign into effect the controversial law that had been days ago vetoed by the president.

The development is the latest sign that Ukraine has been rapidly drifting towards the constitutional crisis when the president and the government may end up claiming the same powers.

Moroz said he had sent a letter to Yushchenko urging the president to sign the law on the Cabinet of Ministers that had been reducing presidential powers dramatically.

???Otherwise, I am informing the head of state that within the designated timeframe I, as the speaker of Parliament, will put my signature on the law,??? Moroz said in the Chernivtsi region.

Yushchenko??™s office, in a strongly worded statement on Saturday, warned Moroz that his signing of the law would be illegal and directly challenge the constitution.

???The speaker of Parliament is not authorized by the constitution to sign laws that have been rejected by the president,??? Yushchenko??™s office said. ???Such actions would be unconstitutional and illegal.???

Yushchenko on Thursday vetoed law citing a slight difference in the text of the law compared with the previous draft that had been last month approved by Parliament and vetoed by the president.

The difference in the text means that lawmakers have technically failed to override Yushchenko??™s veto last week although they had overwhelming voted for it. The mistake was apparently made by Moroz??™s office.

The constitution allows the speaker of Parliament to sign laws into effect if the president doesn??™t take any action on them within two weeks. But Moroz??™s signature put on the controversial law would only increase the chance that it will be rejected by the Constitutional Court.???

???The Constitutional Court will have more legal arguments to rule that the approval of the law was unconstitutional,??? said Vadym Karasiov, the head of the Institute for Global Strategies.

Among other things, the law allows the pro-government coalition to nominate foreign and defense ministries if the president fails to do so within 15 days after the jobs become vacant. This directly challenges the constitution, which lets only the president nominate the figures.

The pro-Russian coalition could use this power immediately to replace Foreign Minister Boris Tarasiuk, a pro-Western ally of Yushchenko, a move that would effectively change the country??™s foreign policy. Although the coalition had voted to oust Tarasiuk last month, Yushchenko called the dismissal illegal and issued decree re-assuring Tarasiuk??™s authority. (tl/ez)