Lawmakers slow to agree on Cabinet a month after election

But instead of new government appointments, all they can expect to see on Nov. 27, the first day of parliament session, is the third ceremony for signing a coalition agreement.

The agreement was initialed late on Nov. 20, and then pompously signed by five political parties the next morning. The coalition of President Petro Poroshenko Bloc, People’s Front, Batkivshchyna, Samopomich and Radical parties spelled out 17 reforms the coalition will work on, including fight with corruption, juridical, security, energy reform and finance.

But it’s still unclear who will execute these reforms. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk anounced at the Cabinet meeting on Nov. 26 that it was the last meeting of the old Cabinet. The new one is supposed to be approved by the coalition.

Yatsenyuk himself is expected to remain prime minister, and Volodymyr Groysman, his deputy and close ally of President Poroshenko, will most likely move to become speaker of the parliament. Kozhemyakiv of Batkivshchyna party said all the coalition parties agreed to Groisman as the new speaker.

But that’s about all we know about the next leadership. The parliament coalition still disagrees even on the principle of formation of the new government.

Batkivshchyna and Samopomich (Self-reliance) decided not to delegate their parliament members for seats in the Cabinet. The seats are expected to be filled mostly by Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk’s party representatives. Oleg Lyashko, leader of the Radical Party, joked that he was ready to take over the interior ministry, but he is unlikely to be honored with that job. Negotiators from other parties say he might get one or two minor seats at the most.

“It’s clear now that most of the places in Cabinet will be divided between Petro Poroshenko Bloc and People’s Front,” said Oleksandr Chernenko of Poroshenko’s party. He added that both forces agreed to considerable compromises recently, so the new government could be formed in the nearest days.

The biggest has been over the portfolios of interior minister and justice minister. Yatsenyuk wants to keep both current ministers in place. Andriy Kobolev, head of Naftogaz Ukraine, the state energy firm, is touted as the next energy minister.

Yatseniuk said on Nov. 14 that current Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Minister of Education Sergiy Kvit should stay on in their positions. Chernenko said that only Kvit is relatively safe in his job so far, it seems.

Many people have been disappointed with Samopomich and Batkivshchyna’s decisions not to take part in the government. They are accused of avoiding political responsibility.

“If something happens, then they will say ‘we have nothing to do with that as our representatives are not in government,”says Chernenko.

But representatives of Samopomich explain in private conversation that they believe the new government should be formed out of competent professionals but not political figures. In other words, it should be a technocratic government.

Several non-government organizations also supported this approach and offered transparent ways to hire the new ministers with the open public discussions.

On Nov. 21, the Reanimation Package of Reforms, a non-governmental reform watchdog, held a special meeting of health experts, patients and anti-corruption non-government organizations, to openly select the next health minister.

Olga Bohomolets and Volodymyr Kurpita, both well-known in the health sector, emerged as potential candidates after the hearing. The organization said this way of choosing the ministers “will bring to the end the notorious practice of using quotas for appointment of officials that often don’t match the professional criteria and who are also appear in corruption scandals or defend their own or other people’s business interests.”

Separately, the Harvard alumni organization, known as the Harvard Club of Ukraine, suggested to members of the coalition to organize live TV debates for their governmental candidates. None of them have nominated candidates so far, according to Dan Pasko, president of the Harvard Club of Ukraine.

Poroshenko used yet another approach to finding candidates. His administration asked an international consultancy WE Partners, a local partner of Korn Ferry, a global talent management and recruitment company, to draw a list of potential ministers.

The representatives of WE Partners approached some people in the business community, including Natalie Jaresko, founding partner of Horizon Capital private investment firm, to tap her for Finance Ministry. She had also been suggested as a potential candidate for economy minister by Samopomich, party members said. It’s not clear, whether Jaresko, an American who lives in Ukraine, would accept the proposal.

Tatiana Furtseva, head of WE Partners, told the Kyiv Post she couldn’t comment on the candidates so far.

Poroshenko said he expected to see the new coalition as well as the candidates for the new government by the end of this week. United States Vice President Joe Biden, who visited Ukraine last week, said he expected that the new governments would be formed over the next few days.

The experts say that given the ongoing security and economic crisis the new parliament has only several months to pass the reformist legislation to avoid disastrous consequences. “The time is limited,” said Yuri Hanushchak, expert of Reanimation Package of Reforms said. “If we fail to create a legislative conveyor in the next six months then the window of opportunities would be closed.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]