The ink had not even dried on the presidential decree naming Rukh member Ivan Zayets the new Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources (incidentally, the last vacancy in the Yushchenko government) than it became clear that the Cabinet of Ministers formation ended up in a conflict. The latter appointment was opposed by the Green Party of Ukraine (PZU). On February 1 Serhiy Kurykin, head of the PZU political council, told UNIAN he looked upon Mr. Zayets’s appointment as “a certain internal arrangement” between Rukh and the Yushchenko government. Meanwhile, a knowledgeable source states that, when voting in favor of Viktor Yushchenko’s candidacy in Verkhovna Rada, the Greens clearly hoped to see their own candidate getting the portfolio of the Ecology Minister (as well as, incidentally, that of the State Property Fund chairman). But now the Greens, having no clout in this ministry, are being robbed, as Mr. Kurykin put it, of “the instrument to implement our own election program” and in general cannot “be held responsible for government actions” on behalf of the parliamentary majority. He claims PZU regional organizations are already questioning “the propriety of the Greens making up part of the parliamentary majority.” (!) Mr. Kurykin also promised that in a few days the PZU coordination board will convene an extraordinary meeting to discuss the question of their party’s further remaining in the majority.
In his turn, Yuri Kostenko, Rukh faction leader and former Minister of Ecology, told The Day that he was very surprised by PZU actions: “No fraction can monopolize one governmental post or another,” he said, “for Cabinet appointments are made exclusively by the President on the basis of candidates suggested by the Prime Minister.” As to “internal arrangements,” Mr. Kostenko made it clear there had always been many arrangements in Parliament and the government, and they are not secret bargains but a normal instrument of political work. Mr. Kostenko himself thinks the appointment of Mr. Zayets as minister is a positive thing. He believes it impossible to find a completely knowledgeable expert to serve in the newly-formed Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (in the course of the administrative reform, the ministry absorbed four former state committees, including those dealing with nuclear power, and the former environmental management directorate — Author). Finally, Mr. Kostenko said it was the first time he had heard about this appointment provoking any complications, for neither Green leader Vitaly Kononov nor any PZU faction members “had ever raised any claims” with him.
Whatever the case, the appointment of Mr. Zayets may become another red button, which could explode parliamentary support for the government.
COMMENTARY
Mykola TOMENKO, Director, Institute of Politics: “The Greens’ actions are unjustified. What mainly caused this snag is the fact that the parliamentary majority is not pro-government (a normal thing in a developed country) but pro-presidential. Hence there is no reason to speak about a coalition government or any direct responsibility of the majority for Cabinet actions. I don’t think the PZU will quit the majority. Yet, this story shows us again the parliamentary majority’s prospects, the more so that the warning came from a party far from the largest and rather obedient.”
Dmytro HRODZINSKY, Academician, academic secretary, General Biology Department, Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences: “The Green World Association, which emerged back in Soviet times, was an organization of true ecology experts. They joined the Green Party only two years ago. But a party should mainly try to attain political goals. Now this ministry will concentrate its efforts on the legal and economic aspects. Ivan Zayets is a good politician with economic and legal education. He has always impressed me with his decency and enthusiasm for his work.”
