Rada increases powers of acting ministers

Ukraine’s parliament passed Feb. 23 the law #4531 with
the president’s amendments, which increases powers of an acting minister if
there is no fully fledged minister. The law also reinstates competitions for
the top positions in state bodies, which have been limited due to the COVID-19
pandemic.

The approved legislation cancels a provision that an
acting minister cannot perform certain actions which are exclusive powers of
the fully fledged minister. It included proposing to the PM candidates for
deputy ministers and heads of subordinated bodies, distributing responsibilities
between deputy ministers and assessing their performance, establishing state
enterprises and appointing their management, distributing the ministry’s money
and signing the ministry’s orders. Also, the amended bill (unlike its previous
version that was vetoed by president) does not contain a provision prohibiting
taking the position of an acting minister by a person whose candidacy for the
minister was rejected by the parliament.

By law, the ministers are approved by the parliament
after the relevant submissions by the prime minister (prime minister, ministers
of foreign affairs and defence are proposed by the president). Deputy ministers
(and acting ministers) are approved by the cabinet after the PM proposals.

Recall, Ukraine’s parliament failed to appoint Yuriy
Vitrenko the energy minister twice. Thus far, the Energy Ministry is the only
one that has no minister, with Vitrenko being the acting minister since late December. President
Zelensky has actively supported Vitrenko as the Energy Ministry head.

Alexander Paraschiy: It looks
good that the acting energy minister will now get more powers so that he can
better respond to challenges and problems accumulated for almost one year when
the position of the fully fledged minister remained vacant. However, by
approving such legislation, the Verkhovna Rada in fact has significantly
reduced its own role in creating the executive branch of power. Namely, any
ministry can be headed as long as needed by a person who does not suit the
parliament. While in the short term this provision does not look risky, such
rebalancing of power might lead to poor consequences some day.