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The first Azarov Government (Ukrainian: Уряд Миколи Азарова) was appointed on March 11, 2010 as part of the "Stability and Reform" coalition between the Party of Regions, Lytvyn Bloc and the Communist Party of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. The current government is led by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who succeeded the ousted second Tymoshenko Government led by ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
The Azarov Government is working in cooperation with Ukrainian President and head of state Viktor Yanukovych.
A November 2010 Razumkov Centre nationwide survey showed that only 13.2 percent of respondents fully support the Azarov Government while 45 percent stated they did not.[1]
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On March 9, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada amended its regulations to define a parliamentary coalition as an alliance of parliamentary factions and individual parliamentary deputies constituting the majority of the parliament’s constitutional composition while the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in September 2008 had defined a parliamentary coalition as an alliance of parliamentary factions that consists of at least 226 parliamentary deputies. The reason for that was a hardship of creating a coalition out of the three parliamentary factions Bloc Lytvyn, Communist Party of Ukraine, and Party of regions, combining only 219 and few members short of the necessary number. For that purpose it was decided to form what was defined as a "coalition of tushki" (Cyrillic: тушки, meaning "defectors") consisting out of several members other factions (NUNS and BYuT).[2][3] One of the leader of the Party of Regions and the head of the parliamentary procedural committee, Oleksandr Yefremov stated that party will request the Constitutional Court to elucidate the clauses of this law unless the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction does it.[4] According to President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine could not afford early parliamentary elections because "the prolonged political instability would provoke a worsening of the economic crisis in the country".[5]
Ukrainian lawmakers formed a new coalition on March 11, 2010 which included Bloc Lytvyn, Communist Party of Ukraine and Party of regions.[6] 235 deputies from the 450-member parliament had signed the coalition agreement.[7] The same day the Our Ukraine- People's Self Defense faction officially announces that would be in opposition to the new coalition.[8] On March 3, 2010 Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko had already moved into opposition.[9][10] According to Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko the forming of the coalition was a coup d'etat.[11]
On March 11, 2010 Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko appealed to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to terminate the parliamentary mandates of its six parliamentarians who had joined the new parliamentary coalition.[12]
The Verkhovna Rada appointed Mykola Azarov Prime Minister of Ukraine on March 11, 2010.[13] At its morning plenary session the parliament adopted two declarations: to appoint Azarov as the Prime-minister and to dismiss Tymoshenko as the Prime-minister. 242 out of 343 lawmakers registered in the session hall voted for this decision.[13] The coalition is called "Stability and Reforms".[14]
| Faction | Number of deputies | For | Against | Abstained | Didn't vote | Absent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party of Regions Faction | 172 | 172 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc | 155 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 56 | 88 |
| Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc | 72 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 19 |
| Communist Party of Ukraine Faction | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lytvyn Bloc | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No faction affiliated | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| All factions | 450 | 242 | 4 | 1 | 96 | 107 |
Following that the parliament also confirmed:
| Proposals | For | Against | Abstained | Didn't vote | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valeriy Khoroshkovsky as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) | 238 | 1 | 1 | 114 | 354 |
| The composition of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine | 240 | 4 | 1 | 108 | 353 |
| The appointment of M.Yezhel as the Minister of Defense and K.Hryshchenko as the Minister of Foreign Affairs |
239 | 0 | 0 | 132 | 371 |
The parliamentary coalition was officially formed on March 16, 2010 when a list of 235 members of the coalition was published on in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian parliament, Holos Ukrayiny.[15] The list included the Party of Regions faction in all its entirety (172 members), all 27 members of the Communist Party faction, all 20 members of the Lytvyn Bloc, six members of the faction of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), another six from the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense faction, and four independent deputies.[15][16] Among the non-fractional parliamentary members and parliamentary defectors are politicians Oleksandr Omelchenko, Ivan Pliushch, Inna Bohoslovska, Taras Chornovil, and others.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn stated on April 2, 2010 that the coalition could expand to 260 members "by the middle of the next month".[17] On April 30, 2010 he expected the coalition to grow to 252 lawmakers after May 11, 2010.[18]
On March 30, 2010 the coalition was expanded to 238 parliamentarians[19], and on March 31, 2010[20] and April 1, 2010 to 240.[21] On April 13, 2010 the tenth representative of BYuT joined the coalition as an independent MP, making the coalition 241 parliamentarians strong.[22] On May 11, 2010 another five lawmakers of BYuT joined the coalition.[23] And on May 14, 2010 another BYuT lawmakers joined the coalition.[24] On June 1, 2010 two more BYuT members joined the coalition.[25][26] The Stability and Reforms coalition now includes 249 lawmakers.[23][24][25][26] On June 18, 2010 another six lawmakers of Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense joined the coalition.[27] On June 29, 2010[28][29][30] and on July 2, 2010[31] another two member of the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko faction joined the coalition, making the coalition 260 deputies strong.[31] On July 9, 2010 the coalition included 265 MPs out of the 450 in parliament.[32]
After the constitutional amendments of 2004 where reverted in October 2010 the parliamentary majority (instead of coalition) was announced by the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Lytvyn consisting of 227 MPs.[32]
In February 2011 the new faction Reforms for the Future became part of the coalition.[33]
According to ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko (in April 2010) lawmakers had been offered a bribe of $5 million each in order to join the coalition.[34] In June 2010 Yuriy Lutsenko and Tymoshenko claimed that opposition deputies have been offered up to 1.5 million dollars and 25,000 dollars monthly payment if they join the coalition.[30]
Azarov's immediate predecessor Yulia Tymoshenko stated on the day the cabinet was elected "this government is completely made up of Ukrainian oligarchs"; she predicted the cabinet actions would lead to "megacorruption, the closure of strategic state programs, pressure on small and middle business and a return to stagnation and the absence of any reforms".[35]
According to a February 2010 poll by the Kiev Gorshenin Institute of Management Issues most Ukrainians wanted not a politician for Prime Minister but "a professional premier, who will implement unpopular reforms".[36]
Ukraine's state budget for 2010 was adopted by parliament after a ten minute long hearing of the bill which consisted of a report by the finance minister and the head of the parliament's budget committee.[37] The Verkhovna Rada 2010 budget was not presented at a parliament meeting, but approved on May 14, 2010.[38][39]
According to former president Victor Yushchenko the March 9, 2010 parliamentary amendment that made it possible for individual members of a parliamentary faction to join a coalition violated the Ukrainian Constitution[40], former Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko accused Yanukovych of "trying to buy members of parliament for a new coalition"[41] (President Viktor Yanukovych accused Lutsenko of badly handling the affairs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs before appointing Anatolii Mohyliov to Lutsenko's old position.[42]) and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc lawmaker Serhiy Mishchenko stated "that the Verkhovna Rada had shown to the average citizen a bad example of how to violate the country’s laws and Constitution".[43] Yushchenko did sent a letter to Yanukovych with a request to veto the law on March 10.[44] Yanukovych signed the law nevertheless.[45] 56 lawmakers filed a challenge to the law who made these amendments possible on March 11, 2010 at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.[45][46] On March 16, 2010 Minister of Justice Oleksandr Lavrynovych stated that even if the Constitutional Court rules the amendments unconstitutional the format of the Ukrainian parliamentary coalition will remain unchanged because "the Constitutional Court's ruling becomes valid on the day of its announcement, not yesterday or the day before yesterday" and the Constitutional Court's ruling will apply only to measures intended to establish a new coalition in Ukraine in the future.[47] On March 26, 2010 President Yanukovych told a delegation from the European Parliament "If the decision of the Constitutional Court will be that the coalition was formed illegally, then I will take a decision on a snap election, I will never go down the path of breaching the constitution that is in force".[48] The Constitutional Court reviewing the case late March 2010.[48] On urgent matters the court rules within weeks but on matters deemed less urgent it can take months or even longer.[48] On March 29, 2010 former premier and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc leader Yulia Tymoshenko accused "Representatives of Yanukovych" of trying to bribe and blackmail Constitutional Court judges in order to get a ruling that legitimates the coalition and the government.[49] This was denied by Yanukovych's Party of Regions.[50]
On April 8, 2010 the Constitutional Court ruled that the coalition supporting the Azarov Government in parliament had been formed legally.[51] The shadow government called the Constitutional Court ruling "cynical, hypocritical, and illegal".[52]
The Azorov's Government stated that it will fight corruption. However several of its members are assigned to two or more government positions, and, of course, are paid for them. That fact reflects direct disregard for the Constitution of Ukraine. Some of the members do not even qualify to the assigned positions either as in case with Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy who was elected to the Supreme Council of Justice.[53] Some of the members of the government received their government assignments without a basic knowledge of the state language as in case with the Minister of Internal Affairs Mohyliov.[54] The President Yanukovych gave him two months (until August 2010) to learn the language.
On March 16, eight parliamentarian parties signed an application for the establishment of an association of opposing political forces to the ruling Azarov government.[55] Among the eight opposition parties are All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", Rukh, European Party of Ukraine, People's Self-Defense, Reforms and Order Party, Motherland Defenders Party, Christian-Democratic Union, and Ukrainian Social-Democratic Party. Tymoshenko immediately nominated a prime minister for the future opposition government (so called shadow government), while the leader of the European Party Mykola Katerynchuk suggests not to rush and consolidate all possible political forces in a single formed opposition government.[56] On March 31, 2010 all members of this government where named.[57] It is headed by parliamentarian Serhiy Sobolev of Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko.[57] Its vice premier, Volodymyr Stretovych, was dismissed on 7 February 2011 because "he had finally taken the side of the government".[58]
Arseniy Yatsenyuk formed another oppositional government in March 2010.[59]
On 8 August 2011 All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", Rukh, European Party of Ukraine, People's Self-Defense, Reforms and Order Party, Motherland Defenders Party, Civil Position and Front for Change formed the Dictatorship Resistance Committee "to better coordinate our efforts".[60][61][62]
On March 11, 2010, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the structure of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.[63] Note, Tihipko even though is a leader of the Strong Ukraine party, he was elected to Cabinet as unaffiliated. Strong Ukraine in Verkhovna Rada is not an independent party. The same goes with Vasyl Tsushko who was a former member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine at the time of his appointment (he became the leader of that party in July 2010[64]); Tsushko was appointed on quote of the Communist Party[65].
The Cabinet originally consisted of 29 ministers, four more than the previous government[66], but has since been trimmed down.[67][68][69] At the time of installation the Cabinet contained the highest number of ministers in Europe, and ranked second in Europe in terms of the number of its vice premiers.[70][71] 8 out of the original 29 Cabinet members where born in Donetsk and the Donetsk Oblast.[72].
The Cabinet is (also at the time of its installation) Europe's only government that has no female members in its composition.[70] It is the first Ukrainian government without a female minister.[73]
As of May 21, 2010 the Cabinet is planning to create a "Ministry of Science, Technologies and Innovation of Ukraine".[74]
| Party key | Party of Regions | |
|---|---|---|
| Lytvyn Bloc | ||
| United Centre | ||
| Non-party politician |
| Office | Party | Incumbent[75] |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister | Mykola Azarov | |
| First Vice Prime Minister (Minister of Economical Development and Trade) | Andriy Klyuev | |
| Vice Prime Minister (Minister of Infrastructure) | Borys Kolesnikov | |
| Vice Prime Minister (Minister of Social Policy) | Serhii Tihipko | |
| Vice Prime Minister (Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Communal Living) | Viktor Tykhonov | |
| Minister of Education and Science, Youth and Sport | Dmytro Tabachnyk | |
| Minister of Culture | Mykhailo Kulyniak | |
| Minister of Defense | Mykhailo Yezhel | |
| Minister of Health | Oleksandr Anishchenko | |
| Minister of Internal Affairs | Vitaliy Zakharchenko | |
| Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food | Mykola Prysyazhnyuk | |
| Minister of Justice | Oleksandr Lavrynovych | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | Kostyantyn Hryshchenko | |
| Minister of Finance | Fedir Yaroshenko | |
| Minister of Energy [Generation] and Coal [Mining] Industry | Yuriy Boiko | |
| Minister Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine | Mykola Zlochevskiy | |
| Minister of Emergencies | Viktor Baloha |
On June 2, 2010 Deputy-minister of Environmental Protection Bogdan Presner was sacked for accepting a bribe of $200,000[76] (he was sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2011[77]). On June 17, 2010 Minister on Communal Living Oleksandr Popov (Party of Regions) was replaced by Yuriy Hivrich.[78][79]
On July 2, 2010 Minister of Environmental Protection Viktor Boiko (Bloc Lytvyn) was replaced by Mykola Zlochevskiy[80][81][82] and Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Seminozhenko was fired by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) the same day.[67] A draft resolution proposing the dismissal of Semynozhenko was submitted by lawmaker Olha Bodnar of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko.[67] On July 10, 2010 Minister of Extraordinary Situations Nestor Shufrych was dismissed by Verkhovna Rada.[83] For his dismissal voted 256 deputies. However Viktor Yanukovych found a new assignment for Shufrych and appointed him as the assistant to the secretary of the Council for National Security.[84] Shufrych's duties where temporary assigned to Volodymyr Antonets[85] till Mikhail Bolotskikh was appointed acting minister on July 23, 2010.[86] Soon after the motion to overturn the 2004 Constitutional amendments was filed on July 14 by the representatives of the Azarov Government, Vasyl Tsushko, previously as an unaffiliated member of the government, was elected the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (extra parliamentarian party, non-coalition) on July 24, 2010.
On October 13, 2010 President Yanukovych sacked two deputy prime ministers (Viktor Slauta and Volodymyr Sivkovich).[87] The sackings were the first case when Yanukovych used the powers granted to him by this month's constitutional court ruling when 2004 constitutional amendments where overturn.[87]
On November 12, 2010 President Yanukovych appointed Viktor Baloha (United Centre) Minister of Emergencies and Minister of the Protection of the Population from the Chernobyl disaster.[88] According to Baloha this did not mean his party would join the coalition.[89] Early 2010 United Centre had rejected any possibility of joining a parliamentary coalition with the Communist Party of Ukraine.[90][91]
Another mayor reshuffle took place in December 2010 which reduced the number of ministers[69][92] This was part of an administrative reform set in motion by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych with the aim to reduced the number of civil servants in Ukraine.[68][93] (see below Yanukovych Administration Reform)
A number of deputy ministers where dismissed early April 2011.[94]
Minister of Health Zynoviy Mytnyk was dismissed on May 17, 2011 because he had "failed to properly organize the work of the ministry"; Oleksandr Anishchenko was appointed for the post on May 24, 2010.[95][96]
Vice Prime Minister (Minister of Social Policy) Tihipko became a member of Party of Regions when that party merged with his former party Strong Ukraine; that thus had no longer a minister in this Cabinet.[97][98][99]
Anatolii Mohyliov was replaced as Minister of Internal Affairs by Vitaliy Zakharchenko in November 2011.[100][101]
The aims of the cabinet are:
Other priorities of the government are the preparations for expected flooding, preparations for spring agricultural work and the improvement of medical services.[105]
In order to increase state revenues with at least Hryvnya 10 billion the government is planning to step up privatization in 2010.[109]
Led by the Party of Regions faction in March 2010 a draft law on the judiciary and a new criminal procedural code was shelved and the introduction of anti-corruption legislation was pushed back from April 2010 to January 2011 by the Verkhovna Rada.[110]
On November 30, 2010 Yanukovych vetoed a new tax code made by the Azarov Government and earlier approved by the Verkhovna Rada but protested against in rallies across Ukraine (one of the largest protests since the 2004 Orange Revolution).[111][112][113] Yanukovych signed an new Tax Code on December 3, 2010.[114]
On December 9, 2010 the President of Ukraine reloaded a new government.[115] According to the decree, the number of ministries was reduced from 20 to 16 and the number of cabinet employees (1,174 people at the time) is to be more than halved.[116]
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