Ukraine speaker expects anti-corruption bill approved today

Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament,
stated on June 6 that he expects a majority of MPs will vote to approve the independent
anti-corruption court demanded by the IMF by noon on June 7. “I urge all MPs to
come to the hall tomorrow. It will be an important and decisive day,” he said.
Commenting on the bill, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said it
should fully comply with the IMF’s demands. “Failure to pass an IMF-compliant
bill would erode Ukraine’s ability to fight corruption, prevent Ukraine from
receiving billions of dollars in assistance, and destabilize the economy,” she
said in an interview to Interfax-Ukraine published on June 6.

Alexander Paraschiy: Recall, the
remaining issue on the anti-corruption court bill, which was not agreed upon
with the IMF, is the process of selecting the court’s judges. The IMF insists
that an international selection committee should have a veto right for
candidates, while Ukrainian power brokers want to ensure that local judges will
have some ability to overcome such veto. This morning, MP Mustafa Nayyem
claimed that a compromise was reached last night in forming a joint commission
in which international judges have a slight majority, as reported by
pravda.com.ua.

This reduces the risk that the bill’s final version
won’t be approved and we remain optimistic about its passage, whether today or
a later date this month.