Rada fills three out of four cabinet vacancies

Ukraine’s parliament voted last week to appoint three
nominees to four vacant cabinet positions. On Dec. 17, it approved the
controversial Serhiy Shkarlet as education and science minister with the
minimum number of votes of 226 MPs. It also approved the candidacy of Roman
Leschenko as head of the agriculture ministry, the entity that has been just
spun off from the economic ministry after their merger in September 2019.
Meanwhile, MPs failed to provide enough votes to appoint Yuriy Vitrenko, the
former executive director of Naftogaz, to the position of energy minister. The
next day, the Rada voted to appoint a security service officer, Yulia Laputina,
as veterans minister.

The positions of energy and education minister were
vacant since March 2020, when the Rada appointed a new cabinet without these vacancies
being filled. The position of veterans minister became vacant last week when
the Rada approved the resignation request of Serhiy Besarab.

Alexander Paraschiy: The most
questionable appointment among these is Shkarlet, who has been accused of plagiarism
by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality. With his approval, both
the cabinet and parliament are confirming that the quality and reputation of
science and education are not a priority, which damages the country’s
investment case.

Another disappointment is the failure to approve to
the position of energy minister Vitrenko, a technocrat who proved his
effectiveness at Naftogaz. But this seems to be not the end of the story, as
Vitrenko still has a chance to run the ministry as its deputy head (as his two
predecessors in Shmyhal’s cabinet did). We believe Vitrenko is likely to be
appointed as deputy minister this week, based on news reports.

Meanwhile, the resurrection of the agriculture
ministry with the appointment of the technocrat Leschenko is encouraging news.