Formation of the new government was slowed down by the shortage of seats

Photo: Konstantin Melnitskiy

The Verkhovna Rada postponed the vote on the ministers of the Cabinet Ministers and VR Vice Speaker until Tuesday. MPs are unable to distribute power portfolios, but the names of people who have lost them in the process of negotiations are already known.

In exchange for Turchynov

Yesterday, the VR elected Volodymyr Groysman as its speaker and Arseniy Yatsenyuk as premier. Their election is part of the agreement between the teams of the president and the premier on the composite of the future government, for which MPs will vote on Tuesday. Capital’s source in the People’s Front party said that in addition to Yatsenyuk’s election to the post of premier an agreement was made to keep Arsen Avakov in the post of Minister of Internal Affairs and Pavlo Petrenko as Justice Minister. MP Viktoria Syumar confirmed such information.

“We came up with the right arguments”, she said, though she refused to disclose the main points of the agreements. But Capital’s source in the People’s Front faction says the agreement on Avakov and Petrenko became possible only because the party gave up the demand on the re-election of Oleksandr Turchynov to the office of VR speaker, which was earlier demanded by Yatsenyuk during his talks with President Petro Poroshenko. “It was a compromise. After that, Turchynov was elected the leader of the People’s Front faction. However, his deputies have not been chosen, as the structure of the Cabinet is still unclear,” the source said.

Capital’s source in the Presidential Administration said that Yatsenyuk proposed to appoint Turchynov to two positions simultaneously – First Vice Premier and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. But such option is no longer being discussed after it became clear that Avakov will retain his office as Minister of Internal Affairs.

“Turchynov is an experienced politician. He went through ups and downs. For example, he served as the head of the SBU and then he held no government position at all. I believe that in time he will return to some high office,” said MP Pavlo Rozenko (PPB).

Many volunteers

Advisor to the President, MP Mykola Tomenko (PPB), told the publication that so far the MPs were unable to agree not only on the candidacies of ministers, but also on the positions of the vice speaker and first vice speaker of the parliament. “The delay is due to the fact that there were too many contenders for the office of the first vice speaker and vice speaker, notably, from different factions. Therefore, this issue has not been resolved and negotiations are ongoing,” said Tomenko.

Capital’s source in the People’s Front said after the faction gave up the post of the VR speaker it decided to demand from the coalition the office of first vice speaker. “Since the office of the first vice premier was given to the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, we want the position of the first vice speaker,” said the source. He added that the candidacy of Andriy Parubiy was considered. The Samopomich party also has a candidate of its own for this position.

While the debate on the first vice speaker was predictable, the coalition’s decision to postpone giving the office of the vice speaker to the Opposition Bloc was a complete surprise for the party. “Just two weeks ago we had an agreement that Oleksandr Vilkul would be elected the vice speaker and on six committees,” said Capital’s source in the Opposition Bloc. Now, representatives of the party acknowledge that they may be left with nothing. “We suggested Vilkul even for the office of the speaker, but it will not be a tragedy if our man is not appointed. For us this is not a matter of principle,” said MP Yuriy Miroshnichenko (OB). However, the source in the political party says that the turndown may happen only in case of exchange of the position in the VR presidium for parliamentary committees.

Rozenko explains that the decision about Vilkul was not made due to the fact that the VR does not treat the Opposition Bloc as the opposition. “There is a world of difference between the opposition and the Opposition Bloc. The Opposition Bloc has no right to monopolize the status of the opposition. They claim this because bloc is not included in the coalition. But there are other parliamentary groups that are not part of the coalition and their interests should also be taken into account,” said Rozenko.

Noteworthy, two parliamentary groups were formed yesterday. 20 MPs formed the People’s Will group, which was initiated by Ihor Yeremeyev. 19 MPs formed the Economic Development group, which was known under the same name in the parliament of the previous convocation and headed by Vitaliy Khomutynnyk. Capital’s source in the PPB said that the post of the vice speaker of the parliament could be given to a representative of Yeremeyev’s group or one of the independent MPs. According to the sources of Capital, lately Yeremeyev has been experiencing some difficulties gathering the required number of MPs in his group. Talks came to an end only on Wednesday. At the same time, the source in the PPB said that some MPs were delegated to the group by the Presidential Administration. In particular, those were MPs associated with the gas business.