Ukraine PM proposes overhaul of financial inspection

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk proposed a complete overhaul of the State Fiscal Service in a July 27 meeting at the Finance Ministry, reported the Ukrinform news agency. An overhaul is the most difficult option for reforming the state financial inspection, but it will be the most effective, he said. “Just as the police was recruited in Kyiv, we will do this sooner or later,” he said. “We will practically from nil create a state fiscal service, a new financial inspection.” He also proposed reducing the number of tax inspectors, introducing electronic services, reducing the number of required reports and changing the system of reviews.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers is blocking anti-corruption reforms, declared an open letter to President Petro Poroshenko released on July 27 and signed by more than a dozen non-governmental organizations. They demanded a fair process of preparing the launch of the National Anti-Corruption Agency. “For more than nine months, the government has blocked the implementation of the corruption prevention law, which provides for monitoring of the property declarations and lifestyles of officials, the protection of whistleblowers and the prevention of conflicts of interest,” said the letter, whose signers included the AutoMaidan, Transparency International Ukraine and the Chesno parliamentary monitoring organization.

Zenon Zawada: Normally, a proposal to overhaul any major government body would draw wide approval and support. But as the above-mentioned letter indicates, Yatsenyuk doesn’t inspire much trust or support among the public. This is buttressed by the dismal poll ratings of not only Yatsenyuk, but his political party, which would not qualify for parliament, based on the poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in late May.

Yatsenyuk needs to start addressing the problems of his own ministers, and allegations against his own entourage, before he starts proposing overhauling bodies such as the State Fiscal Service. He needs more political capital to have wide enough public support for such sweeping measures.