Jaresko reportedly agreed to become PM under conditions

Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, a Chicago native and Harvard graduate, has agreed to become prime minister under certain conditions she put forth, reported the pravda.com.ua news site on March 4, citing its anonymous sources in the Presidential Administration. These conditions include a technocratic government without party quotas or political pressure, direct dialogue with the parliamentary coalition and its full support of initiatives, as well as appointments such as Borys Lozhkin and Dmytro Shymkiv as vice prime ministers and Yulia Kovaliv as energy minister to replace Volodymyr Demchyshyn, who she wants replaced. The Presidential Administration has agreed  to these conditions, the report said.

Negotiations to form a new coalition government have reached a dead end and alternatives are being considered, such as the Cabinet of Minister being led by Volodymyr Hroisman, the current speaker of parliament and close presidential confidante, the Financial Times reported on March 8. Jaresko also remains a top candidate, the report said. She’s unlike to work in a Cabinet led by Hroisman, the report said, which threatens future IMF funding. Hroisman’s candidacy also wouldn’t be supported by Western leaders, the pravda.com.ua report said, citing his close ties to the president.

Zenon Zawada: If Natalie Jaresko is supported by the president in leading a technocratic government (as has been as reported), we see the most likely scenario as the five pro-Western factions returning to resurrect the parliamentary coalition in order to back her Cabinet, if for the very simple reason of renewed IMF funding and preventing even further deterioration in Ukrainian conditions.

Hroisman becoming prime minister is highly unlikely for all the reasons cited, plus he would make the president a clear target for his enemies to hang blame on him for the government’s failures. So far, the president has been able to shift the blame for domestic failures onto Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and his party.