KIEV, April 21 – The future of Ukraine’s pro-Western government coalition was cloudy on Monday, with a senior lawmaker saying the coalition’s two partners have been waging “not cold, but hot war.”

The coalition had been facing difficulties since its creation three months ago, but mutual attacks accelerated over the past two weeks over economic reforms and constitutional amendments.

“It’s not even cold war, but hot war that has started within the coalition,” Ivan Stoyko, a lawmaker from Our Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko’s group, was quoted by Unian news service as saying in Ternopil. “They now try to eliminate each other.”

Our Ukraine has been increasingly concerned over Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s plans to join forces with the opposition Regions Party to amend the constitution by dramatically reducing powers of the president.

The plans clash with Yushchenko’s own attempts to amend the constitution by somewhat strengthening presidential powers, but essentially leaving the prime minister in charge of the economy.

The tensions rose sharply over the past seven days when Tymoshenko, in Strasbourg, had suddenly declared the plans of turning Ukraine into a Parliamentary system of government leaving little role for the president.

The declaration was a pinnacle of Tymoshenko’s standoff with Yushchenko over a range of issues, including the pace of economic reforms and roles of the president and the government.

Both have earlier pledged a pro-Western course for Ukraine, but economically Tymoshenko has been pursuing heavy populism and increased social spending, while Yushchenko has been promoting liberal course.

Tymoshenko’s rampant spending over the past three months boosted Ukraine’s inflation to the highest level over the past seven years, triggering major concerns at the Yushchenko office.

Tymoshenko’s plans to reduce the role of the president were never openly discussed with Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, her only coalition partner.

On the other hand, she has been quietly talking about the plans with the Regions Party as it had recently emerged, triggering a major unease within Our Ukraine.

As part of the plans, Tymoshenko has been seeking to create a joint commission with the Regions Party in Parliament to draft her constitutional amendments.

A warning from Our Ukraine last week forced Tymoshenko to postpone the commission indefinitely, but Monday’s comments from the Our Ukraine lawmaker suggest that creation of the commission was probably a matter of time.

“The creation of the commission to amend the constitution will be the last drop,” Stoyko said. “Why to create the commission? For the coup d'etat and for changing the political system?”

The plans to reduce the role of the president in contrast with Tymoshenko’s original promises to jointly with Our Ukraine approve a bill that de-facto strengthens the role of the president.

Viacheslav Kyrylenko, the leader of Our Ukraine-People’s Defense, on Monday called on the Tymoshenko group to stop “destroying” the coalition.

“Today, the Tymoshenko Bloc, the Communists and the Regions Party want to take away the powers from the president and to transfer them to some ‘chancellor’ that will be appointed by the groups,” Kyrylenko said.

“These actions create a real threat towards territorial integrity and for the state independence of Ukraine that at the current stage can only be defended by the strong presidential authority,” Kyrylenko said.

But Tymoshenko group disagreed.

“We’re not shooting in the back. We’re not hiding our intents from partners in the coalition,” the Tymoshenko group said in a statement on Monday.

“We are not taking away the powers of the president,” the group said. “We stand for ending the chaos in the country.” (tl/ez)