KIEV, July 31 – Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to support President Viktor Yushchenko’s amendments to the 2008 budget in a bill that also incorporates amendments submitted by the government and by opposition groups.

The bill, which effectively unlocks aid financing to those regions that have been affected by storms and floods over the past five days, was approved by 441 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament.

The bill anticipates disbursement of 5.8 billion hryvnias to the regions affected by the floods, which is more than twice what the government has originally expected.

Deputies endorsed Yushchenko’s decree declaring six regions affected by the floods "emergency ecological zones."

But in an apparent setback for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, lawmakers rejected two important positions that had been originally pushed for by her government.

In particular, the lawmakers rejected the 24 billion hryvnias in state guarantees to Ukravtodor, the state-owned road construction company, which would have allowed the company to borrow money heavily for repairs.

Also, the lawmakers made sure that local governments decide on how to spend the relief money, not the central government, as Tymoshenko had been originally seeking.

“Thank you sincerely for today,” Yushchenko said in an address to lawmakers immediately after the budget bill had been approved. “The approved legislation on allocating the relief aid to western regions hit by the floods is a great example of possible joint cooperative work.”

The vote has been widely seen as a competition between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko in their ability to summon up political support in Parliament as the two are seen as major competitors at the next presidential election.

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko are thought to have been holding secret talks with opposition lawmakers to support their bills. The final bill represented consensus among the groups although some of Tymoshenko’s key initiatives had been rejected.

“It is a difficult vote with difficult talks, but it was successful,” Parliamentary Speaker Arseniy Yatseniuk said after the vote. “I hope that conditions have been created for the bill to be signed [by the president].”

Shortly after the vote Tymoshenko also praised the bill as “the victory of Parliament and the government.”

“Perhaps, for the first time over the past months political groups managed to unite for the sake of helping the people and to solve a number of problems in the country,” Tymoshenko said.

But hours later, appearing on Channel 5 late Thursday, Tymoshenko attacked her political opponents for rejecting some of the government’s initiatives.

“They try with all their efforts to keep the government restrained [hoping] that the government will not produce a positive result,” Tymoshenko said. “They keep it restrained to prevent it from working at full capacity, God forbid.”

She also suggested that government will try to push through the initiatives and new amendments to the budget in September, when Parliament resumes work after summer recess.

“Step by step, we will be pushing through the amendments to give the people money and a sense that the new government represents the new policy of Ukraine,” Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko specifically praised Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense and the Communist Party, a pro-Russian opposition group, for supporting the amendments on Thursday.

The comment further confirms reports that Tymoshenko has been holding secret talks with the Communist Party and will perhaps count heavily on the group in seeking to approve future legislation. (tl/ez)