The first session of the opposition’s cabinet, headed by Viktor Yanukovych, leader of the Party of Regions, took place at Kyiv’s Zoriany Cinema. Among those in attendance were ex-Minister of Economy Anatolii Kinakh, ex-Minister of Labor and Social Policy Mykhailo Papiiev, ex-Minister of Fuel and Energy Yurii Boiko, ex-First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, former deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, ex-Minister of Emergency Situations Nestor Shufrych, and former Vice Premier Viktor Slauta.
None of the participants specified the range of questions slated for deliberation. Slauta told journalists that he had come to “have a cup of coffee.”
Yanukovych stated earlier that the party has enough claimants to “shadow” portfolios. “We have two complements of the government in practice. I think that we will distribute duties among the members of each ministry, each direction, and each sphere. We will be monitoring the situation and expressing our opinion,” he explained.
Will the Regionals be generating ideas or will this ploy boil down to banal talk accompanied by a cup of coffee in the pleasant company of fellow thinkers? What will come of this?
Political scientist Volodymyr NEBOZHENKO believes that the emergence of a “shadow” cabinet is Yanukovych’s way of escaping from real leadership in the parliamentary opposition. “The role of a ‘shadow’ premier is more convenient for Viktor Yanukovych than the role of leader of the Verkhovna Rada’s opposition: it does not need to struggle for power. I don’t deny that they will be able to create their ‘shadow’ government, but the epicenter of political activity will be the Verkhovna Rada. If Yanukovych is not a strong leader of the opposition, this shadow government will be of minimal value.”
A shadow government is typical of countries with a two-party system. Can we say that Ukraine is heading that way?
“No. I think that all the current parties will collapse in the next three years, including the most successful one, the BYuT. Each of them was built for concrete projects in 2002-04, and they have proved to be totally inadequate to deal with serious political projects that were designed for several years. As for the BYuT, Our Ukraine, and the Party of Regions, they will reform to different extents and at different times. What political scientists are saying — that our country will have only two parties — is too simple a scheme and it won’t work. But the very existence of a ‘shadow’ government is the most powerful way of criticizing the current government.”
