Last stand. The Ukrainian parliament is seeking votes to form a new coalition

Photo: Konstantin Melnitsky

Today, the Verkhovna Rada will hold an emergency plenary session during which the deputies plan to review the resignation of Premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk. According to information that Capital has, the Cabinet has so far not made a vote of no-confidence, though the situation may change if a new coalition is formed, which deputies are actively engaged on.

The stumbling block

The consideration of government bills on changes in the national budget, the Tax Code and reform of the gas transit system (GTS) should precede the issue of a vote of confidence in Premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Over the past several days, members of the Cabinet held strenuous talks with factions and deputy groups of the former coalition in an attempt to convince them to support the bills proposed by the government.

As people’s deputy Oleksiy Kaida (Svoboda) told Capital, the faction held a meeting with one of the deputies of the Ministry of Finance, who instead of answering the questions of deputies decided to argue with them.

Members of Svoboda say this is not a constructive approach. “We see that the government has broken away from the parliament and now is reaping the benefits,” Kaida said. He believes the faction will support the bill of the Cabinet only with its own amendments. Traditionally, Svoboda pays the greatest attention to the energy market, particularly to the leasing of the GTS. “We feel that the consideration of the bill can be deferred for the time being, Vice Speaker Ruslan Koshulynskiy told Capital.

UDAR does not support this bill as well. Its members are in favor of the parliament deciding on the creation of a consortium to manage the gas pipeline, not the Cabinet. However, UDAR may cut a deal with the Cabinet, which already agreed to amendments to the bill on sequestering of the budget proposed by proponents of the leader of UDAR Vitaliy Klitschko.

The position of deputy groups Sovereign European Ukraine and Economic Development regarding the government’s bills remains unclear. An interlocutor of Capital in the government said there is a preliminary agreement with the leadership of these groups on changes to the national budget and tax legislation. However, they may vote down the issue of the GTS. “It is difficult to say how the deputies that are affiliated with certain groups of influence will vote on this issue. Some of them refuse to be present in the parliament. They have to be pursuaded,” the source pointed out.

It is precisely the result of voting for the Cabinet’s bill that will to a large degree influence the destiny of the vote of confidence in the premier. This is the last issue on the agenda of the parliamentary session. UDAR and Svoboda members say they will not vote for the dismissal of Yatsenyuk. The Party of Regions will support the resignation of the premier, though a member of the PoR faction Mykhailo Chechetov feels that deputies will not vote for the dismissal of Yatsenyuk. “Pro-presidential deputies will not let him go as they want to blame him for everything,” Chechetov told Capital.

Shadow of the new coalition

According to information that Capital possesses the hesitation of members of the Sovereign European Ukraine and Economic Development factions is connected to the process of formation of a new coalition that is going full steam ahead into the parliament. Certain deputies told Capital on condition of anonymity that there are enough votes for the forming of a new association.

Aside from the aforementioned groups, a number of members of Batkivshchyna, the PoR faction, the For Peace and Stability group and certain independent factions are participating in the process. As the source informed, a number of deputies are collecting signatures. “There is no common leadership. Who is friends with whom or works with them will be proposed to sign. Enough signatures have been collected,” the interlocutor told Capital. He affirms that the new coalition will be loyal to the president, whose position regarding the formation of a new association is undetermined.

People’s deputy Mykola Dzhyha (Sovereign European Ukraine) told Capital that the group has yet to make a final decision on joining the coalition. “We will make a decision on Thursday morning. How the group decides, so it shall be,” he added.

Agenda changes under influence of the president

Capital also learned that the daily agenda of the current session of the parliament may be expanded. It is possible that the president’s bill on amendments to the Constitution and the bill of presidential representative in the parliament Ruslan Knyazevych (Batkivshchyna) on electoral blocs running in the elections may be included on the agenda.

People’s deputy Oleksandr Dombrovskiy (independent), who is considered to have close ties with the president, did not rule out the possibility of such a turn of events. “The expansion of the daily agenda is always possible. Life goes on,” said Dombrovskiy, though he refused to specify which bills may be put up for vote.

In his turn, Koshulynskiy says there is no reason to expect that documents that inure to the benefit of the president will be considered as there are too many remarks to them and experts have not submitted their assessments of them.