New Government, Old Faces: “Servant of the People” assesses reshuffle in the government, opposition announces agreements
21 July 17:18
ANALYSIS FROM 
On Thursday, July 17, the Verkhovna Rada gave the green light to a new Cabinet headed by Yulia Svyrydenko. This is the government that the authors of the reform call the smallest in the history of independent Ukraine, which, according to the Prime Minister herself, is a signal of reduced bureaucracy and a desire for efficiency. But will smaller be more effective? Is this team really new and what did Petro Poroshenko and the new head of government agree on? And most importantly, should we expect rapid changes?
The new government includes:
- Yulia Sviridenko – Prime Minister of Ukraine
- Mykhailo Fedorov, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation;
- Oleksiy Kuleba – Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Infrastructure and Territorial Development;
- Taras Kachka – Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration;
- Matviy Bidnyi – Minister of Youth and Sports;
- Herman Halushchenko – Minister of Justice;
- Svitlana Hrynchuk – Minister of Energy;
- Denys Uliutin – Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine;
- Natalia Kalmykova, Minister of Veterans of Ukraine;
- Ihor Klymenko – Minister of Internal Affairs;
- Oksen Lisovyi – Minister of Education and Science;
- Viktor Lyashko – Minister of Health;
- Sergiy Marchenko – Minister of Finance;
- Oleksiy Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture.
Separately, MPs voted to reappoint Andriy Sybiga as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. This decision was supported by 271 MPs. “There were 11 abstentions, and 1 MP voted against.
Svyrydenko announces the government’s goal
Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko released her first address after the vote in the Verkhovna Rada, in which she outlined the priorities of the new Cabinet of Ministers. She emphasized that the government is committed to full self-sufficiency – military, economic and social – and must act quickly, without delay.
It is a great honor for me to lead the Ukrainian Government today. My main goal is to deliver real positive results that every Ukrainian will feel in their lives,” Svyrydenko said.
Among the first tasks of the new government are:
- providing the army with quality supplies;
- increase in domestic arms production;
- increase the technological efficiency of the army;
- deregulation of the economy and protection of Ukrainian business;
- large-scale privatization and implementation of effective support mechanisms.
We have already begun work on optimizing the state apparatus and are committed to a full audit of expenditures in order to reduce them. There is no political loyalty, only numbers and results,” said Svyrydenko.
According to Svyrydenko, the government held its first meeting immediately after her appointment. Each minister has to present a specific action plan as soon as possible, which will be publicly presented and agreed with the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada.
For his part, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced his key expectations of the Svyrydenko government. The main tasks include ensuring stable economic growth and comprehensive support for the security and defense sector.
“The defense and security forces of Ukraine must continue to receive all the necessary resources to protect the state and our people,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President also instructed the government to conduct a full audit of all existing agreements and programs with international partners in the field of defense.
How do MPs assess the changes?
The head of the European Solidarity party, the fifth president, Petro Poroshenko, during the discussion of the prime ministerial candidacy in the Verkhovna Rada, said that the actual absence of the Servants of the People coalition makes this vote unconstitutional. However, he announced certain agreements with the head of the government.
Ms. Yulia, from scratch, as we agreed: Druzhba oil pipeline, appointment and announcement of a competition for the State Bureau of Investigation, BES, positions on the ban on telegrams, positions on the development of fortifications, positions on fundamental issues regarding the transfer of the economy to military lines, – Petro Poroshenko
MP from the Servant of the People faction Georgiy Mazurashu shared his vision of the personnel changes in the Cabinet of Ministers and the prospects for the new government in an exclusive commentary for
According to the parliamentarian, a significant part of the new Cabinet is not really new, but only an updated version of the previous one.
Everyone can see that the new government is actually very much the “old” one. Of course, where there has been a reshuffle or a “completely new” minister has been appointed, it will take some time to update or establish some processes,” says Mazurash
At the same time, he does not rule out difficulties at the start, especially in ministries where appointments have caused controversy or additional tension.
Can these processes be painful? Of course they can. Especially where the potential “excessive tension” was inherent in the appointment itself. But these are, in general, common things that ministries go through from time to time,” explained Mazurashu.
The motivation for the reshuffle in the government is still unclear even in the Servant of the People party
MP Mazurashu emphasized that he expects an increase in the efficiency of government officials, but admitted that the motivation for the reshuffle remains unclear even to the members of the faction.
I really don’t know what the exact goal was of the initiators and ideological inspirers of such reshuffles. There may be various assumptions and guesses. But personally, I have not heard that our faction, which is officially the initiator of the changes, discussed in detail why these reshuffles are necessary and how they would most likely yield positive results,” Mazurashu said.
Among the possible reasons for the personnel changes, he mentioned the strengthening of the foreign policy course, in particular in the direction of cooperation with the United States.
“Perhaps the new head of government has a successful case of negotiations with our strategic partners. Perhaps strengthening the ‘American vector’ was among her main goals. I hope the positive results will not be long in coming…” summarized Mazurashu.
“Voice” announces strengthening of Bankova Street’s control over the government
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, MP from the Voice faction, commented on the rotation in the new government formed after the appointment of Yulia Svyrydenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine. In his opinion, simplistic interpretations of the alleged “complete defeat of the Mindich group” or “total cleansing of the Yermak Cabinet” are incorrect.
I would add that businessman Timur Mindich is said to be close to the Presidential Office, and that even he traveled abroad to meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov to convince him to return from his business trip.
According to Zhelezniak, the Mindic Group did reduce its presence by almost half, but did not participate in the formation of the new government.
“The head of the President’s Office increased his quota and strengthened his political control over the Cabinet of Ministers,” Zheleznyak wrote on Telegram.
Apparently, Mariana Bezuhla also agrees with Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who posted a photo of herself next to Andriy Yermak and ironically captioned it.
She said she regretted not going to the premiere,” Bezuhla wrote on Telegram.
Zheleznyak also made public the actual coalition that supported the appointment of the new government. According to him, the composition of the voters indicates a lack of support from some opposition:
“European Solidarity, Batkivshchyna and the rest of the Voice party did not give a single vote in favor. My vote is against,” Yaroslav Zheleznyak summarized.
However, the next few weeks will be a litmus test of whether the new team will be able to respond quickly to challenges and deliver the promised results. After all, a country at war simply does not have time to “swing into action”.
Author – Anastasia Fedor
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