Zelensky refuses to accept PM Honchnaruk's resignation

At his Jan. 17 meeting with prime minister Oleksiy Honchnaruk,
president Volodymyr Zelensky said he refused to approve Honcharuk’s resignation
request, commenting that “it’s not the right time to destabilize the country
economically and politically,” the president’s office reported the same day. “I
have decided to give you and your government a chance if you resolve some
things that are very important today and are of concern to our society,”
Zelensky told Honcharuk.

Among the key issues, Zelensky ordered the development
of a new concept of salaries of top government officials. “This should be a
normal salary,” he said, referring to allegations of high salaries paid by some
ministries in December, as well as to high expected bonuses for Naftogaz
(NAFTO) top executives. “They must not only be pragmatic managers, but also
remain people,” Zelensky said about Naftogaz managers.

The second task is to strengthen the Cabinet “through
personnel changes” as well as the separation of some ministries that have too
many functions. “It seems to me that time has shown that some ministries should
be separated,” Zelensky said. In his turn, Honcharuk promised the president to
submit by Feb. 4 to the parliament a new plan to reorganize the ministries and
change their heads.

The third task is to strengthen cooperation with the
parliament to speed up the reforms.

Zenon Zawada: It would
have been too destabilizing and risky for Zelensky to have accepted Honcharuk’s
resignation at this point, especially ahead of this week’s World Economic Forum
in Davos. It’s the summit’s very timing that we believe led Honcharuk to submit
his resignation in order to get a vote of confidence from Zelensky. However,
the president’s critical tone in his statement keeping Honcharuk on board indicates what we expected, which is
that he and his Cabinet will be on thin ice in the coming months. It’s a clever
ploy by Zelensky, who will be able to lay blame for failing policies on the
Cabinet, particularly in the event his popularity plummets and the need for a
new government emerges.