Ukraine PM dismisses calls for resignation, citing accomplishments

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he and his Cabinet are successfully fulfilling the coalition agreement and dismissed calls for his resignation at his year-end press conference on Dec. 29. “For the last 22 months, all the attacks have been targeted at the executive branch and against me personally,” he said. “That’s normal. That is called politics and the political struggle.”

He stressed his government’s successes, including Ukraine’s increasing independence from Russian natural gas, its successful USD 15 bln debt operation, its sanctions imposed against Russia, its UAH 113 bln in boosted financing for the army and its USD 5.2 bln in subsidies for the public amid rising gas prices. He also referred to improving the budget by 40%.

Zenon Zawada: We agree that Yatsenyuk and his Cabinet have been targeted by the public for most of its resentment of worsening conditions, while the president has eluded much of the negativity, though his support has fallen significantly as well. We believe that’s because of the ongoing war and Poroshenko’s position as commander in chief. Yet Poroshenko is indeed responsible for the government’s biggest failure, which is the resistance to reforms to the prosecutor general’s office, as well as judicial reform.

On the other hand, the Cabinet has conducted perhaps the most successful reform, which is a major overhaul of the nation’s police. So Yatsenyuk’s team has upheld its end of law enforcement reform while Poroshenko’s team has openly resisted, drawing criticism even from the U.S. government.

Another reason for much of the blame being targeted at Yatsenyuk, however, is the corruption accusations against his entourage, which had been building for months and reached their peak with Saakashvili’s clash with Interior Minister Avakov on Dec. 14. These accusations include criminal charges filed by the Swiss government against Mykola Martynenko, a close political partner to Yatsenyuk.

At the same press conference, Yatsenyuk said his People’s Front party would compete in early parliamentary elections, which are possible in the first quarter next year. We believe that’s something he had to say in order to keep his team together and competitive. In reality, it’s highly doubtful the People’s Front will compete and Yatsenyuk may well join another party or slip behind the scenes to remain in politics.