Rada approves 10 new ministers amid hints of land market retreat

Ukraine’s parliament voted to approve 16 cabinet ministers,
10 of them new, at its Mar. 4 special session. The 277 votes were mostly
offered by the pro-presidential People’s Servant faction, which has numerous
MPs loyal to billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky; the For the Future group of MPs,
which is loyal to Kolokmoisky; and the Trust group of MPs, which was reported
by the ukr.lb.ua news site to be loyal to billionaire Rinat Akhmetov and Andrii
Verevskyi, the board chairman of Kernel Holding. No votes came from the four
parliamentary factions in opposition: the pro-Russian Opposition Platform For
Life, the anti-IMF Fatherland party and the pro-NATO European Solidarity and
Voice factions.

 

Among the key approvals were Denys Shmyhal as prime
minister, who also drew the support of The People’s Servant faction exclusively.
Oleksiy Reznikov, currently serving as Ukraine’s representative to the
political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, was appointed as
the vice prime minister for the temporarily occupied territories. Arsen Avakov,
a political ally to Kolomoisky, remained as internal affairs minister. As
expected, Ihor Umanskiy was elected finance minister to replace Oksana
Markarova, who favors close IMF cooperation, the launch of the farmland market
and overall free market policies.

 

Among the biggest surprises were Vadym Prystaiko, the
former foreign minister, remaining in the cabinet and switching positions with
Dmytro Kuleba, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic
integration. Former energy minister Ivan Plachkov was not among the ministers
elected, despite being considered for returning to his post at the People’s
Servant faction meeting on Mar. 3.

 

Four cabinet positions were left unfilled: the
education minister, culture minister, energy minister, and economic development
minister, left vacated by Tymofiy Mylovanov.  He declined an opportunity
to rejuvenate the agrarian ministry, despite being among the most vocal
advocates of launching the farmland market, which had been scheduled for
October. “I believe in market economics and the development of institutions,
equal rules of the game for all and competition, and the minimal interference
of the state in the economy. Currently, a transformation process is occurring.
The changes are conceptual and multilayered. That’s why now, when the general
view of approaches is changing, I am ready to step aside and give a chance to
the renewed team to fulfill its vision (which, quite possibly, will be more
successful),” Mylovanov wrote on his Facebook page this morning.

 

Armaments engineer Oleh Korostyliov has yet to agree
to become deputy prime minister of the military-industrial complex, said
Oleksandr Korniyenko, the deputy head of The People’s Servant parliamentary
faction, as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site.

 

The vote to replace Prosecutor General Ruslan
Riaboshapka, also expected on March 4, has been rescheduled for a special
session today. A parliamentary committee submitted a no confidence resolution
for Riaboshapka for review.

 

Another special session could be held next week to
approve the remaining officials.

 

Zenon Zawada: As we
expected, Prystaiko will remain active in Ukrainian foreign policy. Apparently
however, President Zelensky prefers to keep him away from issues involving the
war in Donbas, a topic that he had very vocal about during his six-month
tenure, having actively proposed alternatives to the Minsk Accords that drew
harsh criticism from the Russians. Instead, the new foreign minister Dmytro
Kuleba likely agreed to remain in the background while Andriy Yermak, the head
of the President’s Office, takes the lead in talks to resolve the war.
Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if the Zelensky administration
continues to actively propose alternatives to the Minsk Accords to resolve the
war in Donbas.

 

Mylovanov would have been the natural choice to lead
this autumn’s  scheduled launch of the farmland market as minister of a
rejuvenated agrarian ministry. We view his remarks about “conceptual and
multilayered changes,” away from his commitment to free markets and minimum
government interference, as hinting at the Zelensky administration deciding to
retreat from its ambitious plans to launch the farmland market this year. With
the overall political and economic situation so dismal, we believe key officials
may have decided to retreat from such an unpopular policy (with the farmland
market being opposed by more than 70% of the public). This policy, along with
an additional natural gas bill, is among the key factors behind the president’s
falling support.

 

Though we had pointed out that Umanskiy once worked
closely with Yulia Tymoshenko when she was prime minister, it’s more relevant
that he served as an adviser to former President Poroshenko in 2016-2019. He is
widely recognized as having close ties to the Poroshenko entourage, and his
candidacy was advocated by the relatively independent Andriy Yermak, as
reported by the dt.ua news site.