Ukraine parliament widens National Security and Defense Council authority

Ukraine’s parliament approved on Dec. 25 legislation enhancing the authority of the National Security and Defense Council, led by former acting president Oleksandr Turchynov. The bill was approved by 253 MPs (compared to 226 MPs needed) after it was rejected on Dec. 23 and sent to committee for redrafting. It was signed by Parliamentary Head Volodymyr Groysman, who submitted it to the president for signing.

The enhanced authority goes beyond the scope of making recommendations to the president to include decisions on strategic national interests, improving the system of national security and defense, reorganizing and liquidating executive government bodies in this sphere, as well as changing or eliminating articles in the state budget related to security and defense.

Council decisions will be backed by presidential decrees and required for fulfillment by all executive government bodies, a condition that particularly worries critics. The Council has the authority to declare war, partial or total mobilization of forces, and imposing martial law or a state of emergency. The Council can decide on immediate measures to resolve crises that threaten national security.

Despite amendments made after the rejection, numerous pro-EU, reform-oriented MPs criticized the procedure for approving the law, which they said was unconstitutional, and the some of the law’s remaining provisions, which include oversight of newly created anti-corruption structures. In particular, no MP was able to read the legislation that was approved, said Poroshenko Bloc MP Serhiy Leshchenko.

Zenon Zawada: A firm, consolidated central command is necessary for the Ukrainian government in this period of war. However, we also share the concerns of the measure’s critics. It’s not the first time an important decision was made while violating parliamentary rules and regulations, which is becoming a disturbing trend. At the same time, history has shown that the ideals of democracy have had to have been compromised in times of war, even in the most developed Western nations.

A particularly interesting development is President Petro Poroshenko supporting the enhanced authority of Turchynov, who has been closely aligned with his rival, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and his previous political rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. We don’t believe this would have been possible without a deal between the Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk teams for mutual cooperation and protection in the context of the Council’s enhanced powers.

We believe that they have aligned against the two top threats that they need to defend against: the Putin-aligned faction in parliament, and the reform-oriented activists, whose corruption investigations need to be controlled, among other things. This is a losing position for what we’d call Ukraine’s “pro-EU nomenklatura” and it’s very unfortunate to see them setting themselves up for failure. We believe such resistance to reforms – and therefore the public consensus – sets the stage for political chaos and anarchy-like conditions in 2015. There are signs that the coalition government is already on the verge of collapse.