Ukrainian Cabinet offers 379 item reform action plan

The Ukrainian government has prepared an action plan for 2016 which contains 379 concrete actions that the cabinet is going to take in coordination with the president and parliament, PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated on Feb. 11. While he did not specify the actions at that time, he listed the “principles” which he expects all power brokers to follow in Ukraine, and asked the parliament to approve them. The principles are 1) zero-tolerance for procrastination on reforms, 2) zero-tolerance for the unlawful interference of any government branch with another’s activity, 3) zero-tolerance for political interference and corruption and 4) zero-tolerance for the politically-motivated interference of law enforcement agencies in the activity of any state institution.

Alexander Paraschiy: The cabinet seems to be seriously preparing for its report to parliament on Feb. 16, and, due to significant pressure from the international community, this cabinet has every opportunity to survive. That said, the “principles” listed by Yatsenyuk look too vague, and it’s not clear in which way the parliament and president have to commit to them.

Minsters Abromavicius and Pyvovarkiy recently stated that they may stay in the current cabinet if parliament will satisfy their demands transparently. Yatsenyuk’s offer, in contrast, looks like an attempt to avoid the clear list of demands (some of which may not be accepted by the parliament coalition). Though, Yatsenyuk’s softer position is raising the chances that the government and parliament will agree on further cooperation, without any concrete commitments. That does not look encouraging for the long-term path of reforms, but may seem acceptable for key decision-makers (including the IMF) in the short-term. Preserving the cabinet (with some minor reshuffling) looks like the only way for Ukraine to receive international financial support as soon as possible.