Ukraine coalition agreement could be made public and initialed today

A consensus coalition agreement will be made public today, said on Nov. 13 Leonid Yemets, an elected MP from the People’s Front party. That day, participants discussed judicial reform, decentralization, territorial reform, local governance reform, election law reform, law enforcement reform and agri-industrial reform. Yemets said he expects the parliamentary coalition will have 300 votes, enough to amend the Ukrainian Constitution.

The leaders of the five political parties that intend to join the parliamentary coalition plan to initial the text of the coalition agreement today, said on Nov. 13 Oleh Liashko, the head of the Radical Party. Financial and budget issues are still under discussion, he said. Participants have yet to discuss positions in the new government, he said, instead focusing on the agreement’s text. The Radical Party is competing for the positions of interior minister and education minister.

Zenon Zawada: It would be positive for a realistic coalition agreement to emerge today and be initialed. It’s now nearly three weeks since the parliamentary elections. Though the president’s defenders argue that other European democracies have taken as much as two months, we don’t see the Ukrainian government as having that luxury, given its dire position. Each week that passes henceforth without its formation should be perceived negatively by Western players.

We don’t find credible Liashko’s claim that participants in the talks have yet to begin discussing positions. Quite the opposite, we believe the fight for positions has been the main factor holding up the formation of the coalition government.