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.
Overview
All eyes will be on Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as he gives a year progress report on his government’s performance on Feb. 16. The timing comes as pressure mounts to call early parliamentary elections this autumn as a way to get stalled reforms, particularly in the rule of law area, on track. A no-confidence vote to remove Yatsenyuk might win, but the question is whether consensus can be found to replace him. Yatsenyuk is not the only politician facing mounting criticism. Many are disappointed with President Petro Poroshenko’s performance.
A Feb. 13 article in The Economist framed the issue nicely under the headline: “Ukraine’s grace period for tackling cronyism may have run out,” and, in the article, this observation: “Many had hoped that real work on reforms would begin after local elections last autumn. The opposite has proved true. Yatsenyuk has focused on saving his job, despite approval ratings in single digits. Poroshenko, facing a backlash over his support for an incompetent prosecutor general, has seen his credibility steadily eroded.”
Rule of Law
Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin triggered yet another backlash from civil society by creating a new anti-corruption department at the prosecutor’s office earlier this month and appointing Yury Stolyarchuk, a controversial top prosecutor, as its head.
Critics accuse Shokin of setting up the department in order to compete with the newly-created National Anti-Corruption Bureau and sabotage its work.
Sergii Leshchenko, a lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc, and Yury Butusov, chief editor of censor.net news cite, have argued that the department had been set up to help lawmaker Ihor Kononenko, an ally of Poroshenko, and his business partner Oleksandr Hranovsky achieve their political goals.
The selection of Deputy Prosecutor General Stolyarchuk to head the department was criticized because he was in charge of an unsuccessful embezzlement case against Yury Ivanyushchenko, an ally of disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych.Last month a Kyiv court ordered prosecutors to close the case, arguing that they had not taken any action whatsoever to prove the suspect’s guilt.
Oleh Nedava, another lawmaker from the presidential bloc, became a target of corruption accusations due to the collapse of the Ivanyushchenko case.
Nedava used to work for firms linked to Ivanyushchenko. Moreover, earlier this month Radio Liberty published an investigation linking Nedava to alleged corruption schemes at state-owned salt producer Artemsol. He did not reply to requests for comment.
The Artemsol case is being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The bureau is also investigating a corruption case against Kononenko. Economic Development Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, who quit last week, was interrogated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau earlier this week regarding his accusations that Kononeko had been trying to impose his protégés at state firms. Leshchenko on Feb. 8 published a Viber chat supporting the allegations.
Kononenko was questioned by the bureau on Feb. 11.
Earlier this week Poroshenko rejected an initiative to give the bureau a right to wiretap suspects. Critics say that refusal could render the bureau toothless and attribute this to an attempt by Poroshenko to protect corrupt officials.
Meanwhile, employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s heavily armed special forces unit were sworn in at a Feb. 9 ceremony that was presided over by Poroshenko and featured an armored vehicle.
The first competitive selection process for anti-corruption prosecutors was completed on Feb. 6. They are expected to get higher pay and to be better qualified than ordinary prosecutors.
However, the controversial law banning anyone without 5-year prosecutorial experience from becoming an anti-corruption prosecutor forces commission members to choose “the best of the worst,” Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, believes.
Meanwhile, the High Qualification Commission of Judges during its latest session on Feb.9 recommended firing another judge who made unlawful decisions against EuroMaidan activists. The High Council of Justice has already recommended the dismissal of more than 20 judges for issuing unlawful rulings against activists, and three of them have been already fired.
Another positive development is that the Prosecutor General’s Office on Feb. 10 sent to court cases against two riot police officers accused of killing EuroMaidan protesters on Feb. 20, 2014. Currently, a total of four police officers are on trial for the Feb. 20 events. – Oleg Sukhov and Alyona Zhuk
Security & Defense
The vetting of police officers in Ukraine, which is aimed at firing corrupt and unprofessional employees, is expected to be completed by the end of July, National Police Chief Khatia Dekanoidze said at an Interior Ministry meeting on Feb. 10.
Deputy Interior Minister Ekaterina Zguladze-Glucksmann warned at the meeting that the creation of Western-style patrol police and other positive changes would be reversed if the overhaul of the Interior Ministry stopped.
“Institutional reforms are not an irreversible process,” she said. “If we stop, we fall back… If these islands (of reforms) remain surrounded by an ocean of intrigues and corruption, they will drown.”
Meanwhile, seven major volunteer groups helping the military on Feb. 11 came out with devastating criticism of the Navy’s leadership, accusing them of having links to Russia and of derailing a switch to NATO standards. They said they would file appeals with the president and other authorities on Feb. 12 to investigate the accusations and suspend the Navy’s commanders during the investigation.
The Navy’s leadership denies the accusations.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Feb. 11 one of the Cabinet’s goals was to integrate the Ukrainian military into NATO and switch from conscription to a professional army.
On the bright side, Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said on Feb. 10 that the U.S. would provide $335 million to Ukraine for security purposes this year.
State-owned defense company Ukroboronprom said on Feb. 11 that it had signed a deal with U.S.-based Textron Systems to jointly upgrade U.S. Humvees in Lviv. – Oleg Sukhov
Public Administration
Artem Sytnyk, a head of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, says lawmakers have been “intentionally” blocking the bill on the introduction of electronic property declarations.
The postponement of the mechanism, a requirement of the EU for visa-free travel, was added into the budget bill for 2016 passed by Ukraine’s parliament on Dec. 24, 2015. The parliament fails to pass the bill that cancels the delay in introducing electronic declarations until 2017.
Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service in cooperation with Western partners has launched a Twinning project that enables the country to create electronic customs management. The project aims at bringing customs legislation in line with the EU standards, creating a fast-track customs clearance system and “truly transparent procedures for all market participants,” according to State Fiscal Service Chairman Roman Nasirov. The program has secured 1.85 million euro from the European Union. It’s planned to be implemented in two years.
Kyiv City Council launched a website to track the work of snow removal equipment in the city. It’s a part of Kyiv Smart City project, aimed at improving the quality of life and city management. The citizens can browse the map to check the whereabouts of the vehicles and report about the problems. Currently some 296 snow removal vehicles have GPS-navigators that enable to track them. — Olena Goncharova
Economy & Finance
The Cabinet of Ministers has made a new push for restructuring dollar-denominated debts, most of which have turned toxic due to the devaluation of the hryvnia.
The new bill, submitted to parliament, envisages a reduction of mortgages for borrowers who own a single home, are disabled, or are veterans or related to one.
The document is a product of cooperation between bank associations and the government. It was supported by the Ukrainian central bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Ukrainians have 37,000 loans worth $1 billion. Many of them were issued before 2008 when one dollar cost Hr 5.05. As the currency has devalued to nearly Hr 26 per dollar, people are unable to repay their loans and some are being evicted from their homes.
Earlier, the president vetoed a bill on mortgage restructuring which would have recalculated all debts at the currency rate which existed before 2008 devaluation. So, bill 4004 is the government’s second attempt to solve the problems of people who cannot pay back loans due to rapid inflation.
At the televised meeting on Feb. 11, the government adopted a development strategy of state-owned banks. According to it, the Finance Ministry plans to privatize at least 20 percent stake in two making biggest banks, Oshchad and Ukrexim, by mid-2018. The European Bank on Reconstruction and Development and International Finance Corporation are seen as potential clients. The Finance Ministry also wants to sell or liquidate seven other smaller state-owned banks. –-Olena Savchuk
