Ukraine parliament approves tender reform, fails to dismiss minister

Ukraine’s parliament approved on Sept. 15 legislation to conduct state tenders in accordance with international standards, which will limit corruption risks and enhance public access. The measure apply to goods and services of UAH 200,000 or greater, and work at UAH 1.5 mln or greater. It will enable to government to save UAH 50 mln per year, Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius estimated. Another law to be submitted in October will require all state tenders to occur electronically.

At the same time, parliament failed on three attempts to dismiss Vice Prime Minister Valeriy Voshchevskiy, a key sponsor of Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party that abandoned the coalition government on Sept. 1. Voshchevskiy submitted his resignation at that time. Before the voting, he called for the resignation of the current government, which “doesn’t control the situation in the energy system,” which he said is in “pre-heart attack condition.”

In particular, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk should be allowed to appoint his own ministers, he said. The Presidential Administration fully controls the Energy Ministry, which ignored his orders, Voshchevskiy said, referring to numerous conflicts in government. “The locomotive called the government has two conductors – one on Bankova, and the other on Hrushevskoho,” he said, referring to the Presidential Administration and the Cabinet of Ministers.

Zenon Zawada: The session reflected the piecemeal, inconsistent work of the current government. Certain lightweight reforms are introduced, while rivalry between business clans and politicians inhibits any grand strategy or long-term planning.

All the main conflicts in government are widely known by Ukrainians, who are gradually getting fed up. There’s Petro Poroshenko versus Yatsenyuk, Poroshenko versus Igor Kolomoisky, Yatsenyuk versus Dmytro Firtash, etc. As has been the case with the last decade, it’s only a question of how long before the public dissatisfaction manifests itself, and in what form. We can only hope it will be peaceful and not play into the hands of the Kremlin.