Our Ukraine Recalls Its Ministers

Roman Bezsmertny, one of the leaders of Our Ukraine and head of its parliamentary faction, announced tonight that Our Ukraine had decided to quit talks on joining the majority coalition and recall its ministers from the Cabinet. Our Ukraine has four Cabinet ministers (Roman Zwarych, justice; Yury Polyachenko, health; Yury Pavlenko, family, youth and sport; and Igor Likhovy, culture) and was due to appoint a fifth (emergencies) if it joined the coalition. Two other ministers, defence and foreign affairs, are Our Ukraine members but are presidential appointees whose participation in the Cabinet is not linked to Our Ukraine’s participation in the majority coalition. Bezsmertny said the decision was made because the Cabinet and majority coalition were not fulfilling the “Universal of National Unity” – the agreement signed by President Yushchenko, Our Ukraine and the three parties in the coalition last month, according to which Our Ukraine was to join a new “coalition of national unity”. He added that criminal cases had been opened against Our Ukraine ministers. Tom Warner: We expect the four Our Ukraine ministers to be replaced promptly, and a new emergencies minister to be appointed, from among the three coalition parties – Regions, Socialists and Communists. The justice ministry is most important here and is most likely to be taken by a Yanukovich ally such as Olexander Lavrinovich. The interior minister, Yuri Lutsenko, a Socialist who opposed his party’s move to join the coalition but was appointed because of Yushchenko’s support, is also likely to be replaced. It is also possible that this could lead to a broader Cabinet reshuffle. However, this move does not threaten the prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, as he still has support from a parliamentary majority. This move signals that Yanukovich and Yushchenko will not after all be able to cooperate on most issues. It will allow Yanukovich and his allies to consolidate control over the day-to-day running of the central government, but it will make it more difficult for them to push through legislation, as they will not be able to overcome Yushchenko’s veto without support from Yulia Tymoshenko and her bloc, which will be rare.