The collapse of the coalition forced Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to tender his resignation

Yatsenyuk claims the split of the coalition will complicate the situation in the country

Photo: Aleksey Solodunov

Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Turchynov announced the split of the European Choice coalition. This announcement was preceded by the conflict between the Cabinet and members of the coalition in connection with the priority bills after which Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk handed in his resignation. Nevertheless, the parliament believes he is still the acting head of the government until the lawmakers vote on his statement.

UDAR vs. Yatsenyuk

On the eve of yesterday’s session of the parliament, according to Capital’s information, a meeting of the leaders of the parliamentary factions was held with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, where they discussed the draft law on cutting the budget, providing allocation of additional funds for the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) at the expense of curtailment of government programs and subsidies to local budgets.

Capital’s source in the UDAR party said at the meeting the faction demanded that in exchange for support of the bill Yatsenyuk gave the party some offices in the government. «They sought the offices of First Vice Premier, Minister of Justice and Minister of Infrastructure. But they were refused,» said the source.

The prime minister’s negative reaction to such a proposal was quite predictable. After all, while the seat of First Vice Premier remains vacant after Vitaliy Yarema was appointed to the office of Prosecutor General, the other two positions claimed by UDAR are currently occupied by individuals from Yatsenyuk’s inner circle. Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko and Minister of Infrastructure Maksym Burbak are Yatsenuk’s close friends since their student years.

But Deputy Chairman of the Batkivshchyna faction Dmytro Shlemko said in a conversation with Capital that on Thursday Yatsenuk met MPs again to agree the bills and stated that he gave his consent to staff demands. The Cabinet also decided to meet MPs halfway and agreed to make significant amendments to the bill on sequestering of the budget.

Exit with a surprise

Nevertheless, after the resumption of parliament’s work the floor was taken by leader of the UDAR faction Vitaliy Kovalchuk, who suddenly announced its withdrawal from the coalition. Following Kovalchuk Oleh Tyahnybok said the Svoboda party was also dropping out. «These actions are aimed at blocking the adoption of government bills,» VR Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov commented on the statements of the two factions. He added that an agreement was made that first the MPs will discuss sequestration of the budget and bills submitted by the Cabinet and that withdrawal from the coalition would be announced later.

In an interview for Capital lawmaker Pavlo Rozenko (UDAR) explained the hasty announcement of the faction by its unwillingness to vote for sequestering of the budget, which will lead to the deterioration of social protection. Shlemko believes that the UDAR party was given an order to act immediately from the Presidential Administration. «I think someone has worked with the faction and there was an order agreed with President Petro Poroshenko and Vitaliy Klitschko,» says Shlemko.

At the same time, Capital’s source in the UDAR party says there was a more prosaic reason for such haste. «We were informed that the Svoboda party was preparing to announce its withdrawal, so we had to announce this decision first in order to beat Tyahnybok to the punch,» said the source.

Later it became known that 15 independent MPs of the Economic Development group of deputies and 8 MPs of Batkivshchyna focused on Poroshenko joined the the Svoboda and UDAR parties in their decision to leave the coalition.

Illusion of a coalition

The dissolution of the coalition and failure to form a new one within the next 30 days will give the president grounds for dissolution of the VR and holding of early parliamentary elections. Advisor to the president and member of Batkivshchyna Mykola Tomenko predicts that early elections will be held on the last Sunday of October. «On August 25 — 26 the president will announce the dissolution of the parliament. Elections will be held in 60 days. Therefore, the expected date is October 26,» said Tomenko.
At the same time, he assures that since Thursday night a number of MPs have started negotiations on a new coalition. Representatives of Batkivshchyna assured Capital that they will not interfere with the dissolution of the parliament, but they will demand introduction of changes to the electoral law.

Another member of the coalition — the Sovereign European Ukraine group of MPs — calls the decision of its partners from the

Svoboda and the UDAR parties «political maneuvering». «But today I do not see a new coalition,» said co-chairman of the group Ihor Yeremeyev. However, he did not say whether the group will join the new coalition.

The Party of Regions will discuss this issue at a meeting today. Lawmaker Tetyana Bakhteyeva says there are enough votes for a new association in the parliament. «The parliament is talking about the new coalition as a fait accompli,» she said. Member of the group of MPs For Peace and Stability said «there has been certain progress, but it is too early to speak about a number of lawmakers».

Yatsenyuk was not allowed to leave

The president already said that during this month the VR should work productively. In particular, it has to pass amendments to the national budget and the Tax Code. The president did not mention the need to amend the Constitution for decentralization of power or ratification of the agreement with the EU. However, the first votes showed that the VR was not ready to support the Cabinet’s bills. In particular, voting for the bill on reformation of the management of the gas transport grid (GTG) failed and budget cutting was not even included in the agenda.

The prime minister has asked for a break for consultations with the leaders of factions after which Yatsenyuk announced his resignation. «I announce my resignation in connection with the split of the coalition and blocking of government initiatives,» said Yatsnenyuk. In response, Turchynov instructed the proponents of the collapse of the coalition to propose the candidacy of a technical prime minister, who will lead the government before the parliamentary elections.

Lawmaker Volodymyr Kurinniy (UDAR) asserts that pursuant to the legislation in force the split of the coalition does not entail resignation of the government and he called Yatsenyuk’s statement a «theatrical performance». «The parliament has to dismiss him within 10 days after submission of the statement, but Yatsenuk did not tender his resignation. In fact, the session was closed after his speech,» he said. Expert on constitutional law Yuriy Klyuchkovskiy said that Yatsenyuk’s resignation is possible only after voting in the parliament.