Ukrainian Parliament
Speaker Volodymyr Hroisman, backed by President Petro Poroshenko to head a new
government to lead the country out of a political tumult that’s halted the
flow of international financial aid, is struggling to assemble a parliamentary
majority as parties bicker before a vote on his candidacy next week.entary majority as parties bicker before a vote on his candidacy next
week.
Even lawmakers from Poroshenko’s own
party said they haven’t yet decided whether to support Hroisman, as did those
from the Radical Party, ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party and
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front after talks in Kiev on
Friday. A parliamentary majority must approve his appointment, with the
legislature set to reconvene Tuesday. Yatsenyuk, who must also step aside, said
he’d “accept any decision.”
“The partners need to agree on the
coalition accord, and this may not be very easy," Yuriy Yakymenko, an
analyst at Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies, said by phone
from Kiev. The groups need to sort out policy proposals -- some of which may be
incompatible with the terms of an international bailout -- the terms for
Yatsenyuk’s departure and the distribution of Cabinet posts, he said.
If confirmed, Hroisman would take charge
amid a volatile political environment, with Ukrainians and the nation’s foreign
backers losing patience over delays in fighting corruption and modernizing the
economy after a street revolution calling for European values. Yatsenyuk’s
authority was shaken last month when top reformers left his cabinet and two
parties quit the coalition in a flurry of graft accusations. The economy is in
the midst of a fragile recovery following 1 1/2 years of recession.
‘Coherent Policy’
“The most important thing for Ukraine is
to have one voice to the lead the country out of its economic abyss,” said
Simon Quijano-Evans, chief emerging-markets strategist at Commerzbank AG in
London. “Investors are prepared to hold the country’s bonds but ultimately that
needs coherent policy that guarantees a continuation of reforms and the crucial
IMF program.”
Hroisman has prioritized restarting
cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, saying Ukraine must
“flawlessly” implement its $17.5 billion bailout, on hold since infighting
consumed the government.
The quarrels aside, the talks show that
Ukraine is getting closer to resolving its political crisis, according to
Volodymyr Fesenko at the Penta research institute in Kiev. He expects a new
government to be approved next week, before Poroshenko embarks on a visit to
the U.S.
‘Blackmail,
Bargaining’
“It’s just political blackmail and
bargaining,” Fesenko said by phone. “Don’t think that there isn’t any progress
even if it looks like there isn’t any progress. This is Ukrainian politics.”
Ukrainian government bonds and the
nation’s currency gained as the coalition talks got under way. The yield on
debt due 2019 fell one basis point to 9.881 percent, while the hryvnia
strengthened almost 1 percent to 25.9500 to the dollar as of 6:22 p.m. in Kiev,
The currency has slumped 7.4 percent this year.
Hroisman has been parliament speaker
since November 2014, serving before that as a deputy prime minister under
Yatsenyuk and mayor of the city of Vinnytsya. His appointment, ahead of
candidates such as U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, would consolidate
Poroshenko’s grip on power.
Jaresko’s Future
In a sign Jaresko may not be a member of
a Hroisman-led government, former Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos was named
by the parliament speaker as a possible ministerial appointment. There was
insufficient support in parliament for an earlier proposal under which Jaresko
would head a government of technocrats, according to Lutsenko. Jaresko’s
office wasn’t immediately available to comment.
“We should create a professional
government, with political support from parliament, that will be responsible,
transparent, and effective,” Hroisman, 38, told reporters in the capital, Kiev.
“It’s very important to form a quality team. People who join the government
must have an impeccable record.”
In announcing Hroisman’s candidacy,
Yuriy Lutsenko, who heads Poroshenko’s party in parliament, warned of the
dangers of letting the political uncertainty persist. Four parties may unite to
form a new ruling coalition in the legislature, he said.
“If we don’t resolve the political crisis
next week, the only way out is through early elections, which carries a huge
threat of political and economical destabilization,” Lutsenko told reporters.
Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk emerged to lead
Ukraine after a popular uprising two years ago ousted the country’s
Kremlin-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych. Having climbed out of recession,
restructured $15 billion of debt and signed a pact to end the armed conflict
against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko’s team
splintered over efforts to stamp out corruption.
“I will accept any decision that will
stabilize the situation and that will allow the country to move forward,”
Yatsenyuk said at a government meeting in Kiev on Friday. “Gather 226 votes,
show the Cabinet, its program and real coalition that will implement this. Otherwise support this
Cabinet of Ukraine.”
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