Editor's Note: The Kyiv Post tracks the progress made by Ukraine's post-EuroMaidan Revolution leaders in making structural changes in the public interest in six key areas: economy & finance, security & defense, energy, rule of law, public administration and agriculture.
Rule of Law
The dominant news in the rule of law field is that Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin submitted his resignation on Feb. 16 after President Petro Poroshenko urged him to do so.
Civil society and the West have called for Shokin’s dismissal for many months due to his failure to send any high-profile cases to court and his sabotage of investigations.
The key question now is whether Shokin’s place will be taken by a representative of the old prosecutorial system or a reformer.
Meanwhile, the Verkhovna Rada on Feb. 16 passed the first reading of a bill introducing electronic property declarations starting from this year. Previously electronic declarations were scheduled to be launched in 2017.
However, during the vote, Poroshenko Bloc lawmaker Vadym Denysenko proposed controversial amendments that had not been discussed in committee beforehand.
The amendments, which were approved by the Verkhovna Rada, effectively provide many loopholes for corrupt officials. Anti-corruption activists have urged Poroshenko to veto the bill.
Under the amendments, officials will be exempt from criminal liability for false statements in their declarations until 2017.
The bill also limits the circle of officials’ associates whose assets need to be declared to just the closest relatives – spouses and children who are registered in the same apartment with the official.
Moreover, officials are not required to declare “movable property” they bought before the law was passed. That means they won’t have to explain how they could afford to buy expensive jewelry or paintings with their modest salaries.
The value of property that has to be declared was also increased.
EU Ambassador Jan Tombinski on Feb. 17 lambasted the amendments, saying they did not meet the requirements for switching to a visa-free regime with the EU.
Earlier this week the Verkhovna Rada also passed a bill allowing people without prosecutorial experience to become anti-corruption prosecutors.
The legislation also enables the chief anti-corruption prosecutor to appoint rank-and-file anti-corruption prosecutors – a function previously reserved for the prosecutor general.
When the bill was approved in the first reading on Feb. 16, it contained a controversial clause enabling the prosecutor general to twice reject candidates offered by the commission for selecting the anti-corruption prosecutor.
Representatives of civil society and the EU have argued that the clause would reduce the anti-corruption prosecutor’s independence. However, the provision was removed when the legislation was passed in the second and final reading on Feb. 18.
Another bill approved by the Rada in the second reading on Feb. 18 is legislation making it easier for law enforcers to seize the assets of corrupt officials. – Oleg Sukhov and Alyona Zhuk
Security & Defense
Earlier this week Interior Minister Arsen Avakov faced severe criticism for signing an order under which police officers who were rejected by vetting commissions would be transferred to the police departments of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts instead of being fired.
Avakov has also sabotaged police reform by allowing officers to bypass vetting by being transferred to other units, Yevhenia Zakrevska, a lawyer and member of a vetting commission, told the Kyiv Post.
Responding to the accusations, Artem Shevchenko, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, wrote on Facebook on Feb. 17 that the decision to transfer police officers rejected during vetting to the Donbas was due to the need to fill understaffed police departments in the region and to provide “social protection” for them.
Meanwhile, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said on Feb. 18 that U.S. businesses would be able to invest and share solutions with the Ukrainian defense industry only when the country conducts reforms and removes corruption.
War with corruption is a crucial for winning Ukraine’s war with Russia, he said. – Oleg Sukhov
Public Administration
On Feb. 16, Ukraine’s parliament passed a bill allowing political parties to expel candidates from their lists after they are elected but before they get their parliamentary mandates. The lawmakers have been trying to include the bill into agenda more than 20 times since it was registered in parliament on Dec. 23. It was automatically included on Feb. 16 together with earlier registered bills and backed by 236 lawmakers.
However, critics call it the “party dictatorship bill,” arguing that it will be used by party leaders to control rank-and-file members and will reduce democracy.
Maksym Latsyba, analyst at the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, said that “the party may clean up its list after the elections. So any disagreeable, critical lawmaker may be removed from the party list with this law.”
Opora election watchdog marks the bill as “unlawful,” because it does not comply with the recommendations and conclusions of international organizations. The bill would enable party leaders to replace popularly elected candidates with ones selected by parties without the electorate’s approval.
According to Viktoria Ptashnyk, a member of parliament’s economy committee, the law “fools” the electorate: “It’s a big advantage for party leaders to reshuffle their lists, meanwhile the experts marked this bill as non-democratic one.”
The lawmakers didn’t find votes on Feb. 18 to cancel the results of the bill. President Petro Poroshenko could still veto the bill. – Olena Goncharova and Oksana Grytsenko
Economy & Finance
Parliament passed key amendments streamlining the privatization process this week, four months after they were first introduced. The new law makes three main changes: First, Russians, or citizens of any “aggressor state,” can no longer purchase state property that is being privatized. Second, state-owned enterprises preparing for privatization no longer have to sell minority stakes at local stock exchanges. Third, the State Property Fund can hire external advisors, including foreigners, to prepare companies for privatization.
“This makes it much easier for the State Property Fund to hire reputable advisors which can be financed with external money, like aid from the US or from Europe,” Dragon Capital Analyst Dennis Sakva said.
The bill’s passage came as both Ukraine’s coalition government and the IMF’s ongoing financial bailout package appeared to be in peril. The IMF committed to a $17.5 billion bailout of Ukraine to be doled out in tranches dependent upon Ukraine’s progress in reform. The international lender has given Ukraine a total of $11 billion so far, most recently $1.7 billion in August.
Now, concern over the pace of reform and the absence of a serious fight against high-level corruption has led the IMF to consider halting further loans entirely, with the latest tranche –originally scheduled for January – still withheld.
Finally, Russia and Ukraine concluded a spat over international trucking this week that nearly saw Russia lose direct land transit routes to Central and Western Europe. Ukrainian activists had blocked Russian cargo trucks from crossing the borders with Romania, Belarus, and Poland after Russia blocked Ukrainian tractor-trailers. The Ukrainian government then instituted a temporary ban on all Russian trucking, before the two countries, apparently considering the potential loss in transit fees and convenience, decided to resume transit. – Josh Kovensky
