Ukraine parliament moves towards approving Lutsenko as top prosecutor

Members of parliament, representing the de facto coalition, registered on May 11 a revised bill that amends the requirements for the prosecutor general, which is intended to enable Yuriy Lutsenko, a close presidential ally, to become nominated for the post. The new bill raises the requirement of work in the legal sphere to five years instead of three, among its changes, reported the pravda.com.ua news site.

At the same time, its key provisions remain the same: removing the requirement of a law degree and experience working as a prosecutor (both of which Lutsenko lacks), as well as creating a State Bureau of Investigations, responsible for investigating the alleged crimes of top state officials, news reports said. The bill was recommended for approval on May 11 by a parliamentary committee.

Coalition MPs are being called upon to urgently attend today’s parliamentary session for the vote, even being asked to return from foreign trips, the pravda.com.ua news site reported, citing various MPs. Iryna Lutsenko, an MP and Yuriy Lutsenko’s wife, said she expects the bill to be approved today.

Zenon Zawada: We think it’s likely this bill will be approved by parliament today, as the president and his team have invested extra effort to get all their ducks in a row for the vote. MP Serhiy Leshchenko also alleged yesterday the president’s team was pressuring MPs from the People’s Will group to offer their votes in support of Lutsenko in order to compensate those lacking from the two coalition factions.

Given all this unusual effort, including the president canceling his trip to London, we also expect a vote approving Lutsenko’s candidacy immediately following the bill’s approval, making him prosecutor general. Our sources in the parliament tell us that the president is lobbying Lutsenko’s candidacy without consulting his Western partners, whose offers of financial assistance are dependent on the prosecutor general’s work. This buttresses our view that Lutsenko is likely to disappoint the West.

Yet in selecting Lutsenko, someone with no prosecutorial experience, Poroshenko could be thinking that his image as a EuroMaidan activist and status as an outsider to the Prosecutor General’s Office will earn Western support. But we don’t see that angle carrying much weight with Western officials, who are already warning of Ukraine fatigue. They want results.