New Cabinet, parliamentary committees by Friday, leaders say

Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov will announce his Cabinet of Ministers by the end of the week, PM’s press secretary said on Dec. 19. Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, Azarov’s first deputy prime minister between 2010-12, won’t return, citing differences in Ukraine’s foreign policy course, though other reports cited dissatisfaction with his proposed role in the new Cabinet. In parliament, the number of committees will increase to 30 from 27, said on Dec. 19 Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Rybak. This would be accomplished possibly by splitting the committees on tax and customs policy, industrial and regulatory policy and entrepreneurship, said on Dec. 19 Communist Party Chair Petro Symonenko. The committees will be announced by the week’s end, Rybak said.

Zenon Zawada: The initiative to create new committees could be an attempt to accommodate those vice-ministers reported to be leaving the Azarov government. Those reported so far as leaving – Khoroshkovskiy, Social Policy Minister Serhiy Tihipko and Infrastructure Minister Boris Kolesnikov – are among the government’s more pragmatic politicians so their exit from the Cabinet can decrease their leverage inside and outside Ukraine.