Rumors of a government reshuffle had been circulating in Ukraine for the past three years and now they have become reality. On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament approved the nomination of Yulia Svyrydenko as prime minister. Svyrydenko is a former economy minister who was already deputy prime minister.
On Wednesday, parliament had also approved the resignation of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. As a result, the cabinet was automatically dissolved. Shmyhal had been in office for more than five years — longer than any other Ukrainian prime minister before him.
Svyrydenko, 39, had gained prominence during weeks of talks with the US about a minerals deal that was signed in Washington at the end of April. She had proven herself to be a tough negotiator.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was necessary to rearrange the executive branch in Ukraine to implement agreements reached with international partners.
Making new appointments under martial law
Under Ukrainian law, elections cannot be held while martial law is in place, which it is right now during the ongoing war with Russia. Article 10 of the rules on martial law states that while it is in force, “the authority of the Supreme Council of Ukraine […], ministries, other central and local executive agencies, […] may not be terminated.”
Representatives of the opposition expressed their doubts about the legitimacy of the government reshuffle. “Parliament recently extended martial law and could now violate Article 10, even though everyone agrees that the legislation would first have to be clarified or amended,” explained Yaroslav Zheleznyak from the opposition Holos (“Voice”) faction.
Zelenskyy was also criticized for offering Svyrydenko the post of prime minister in public and thus violating the existing order, whereby a head of government can only be appointed by the president on the parliament’s recommendation, which in turn must be preceded by a proposal by the governing coalition. Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party currently has a majority in parliament.
Was Zelenskyy dissatisfied with the government?
Ahead of the vote on Thursday, Oleg Saakyan, a political scientist and co-founder of the National Platform for Resilience and Social Cohesion, predicted parliament would approve the nomination of a new prime minister for reasons of political expediency. The reshuffle was long overdue and had actually been planned for 2024.
The main reasons for this were the ongoing tensions within the government and “a number of obvious management problems” in various areas, from the defense sector to infrastructure and social policy. “The government wants to defuse some of these tensions publicly. It wants to gain some new credibility,” Saakyan argued.
No changes expected in Ukrainian domestic policy
However, Volodymyr Fesenko, a political scientist and head of Penta, a political think tank in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, doubted that the change of prime minister would trigger any major domestic changes. “The key political decisions will continue to be made by the president’s office and Svyrydenko will implement them, as will the government,” he suggested.
Svyrydenko, who once served as the deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine under Andriy Yermak, is a Zelenskyy confidante and considered to be a young and dynamic politician who can potentially bring new approaches to the table. Fesenko pointed out that she had the necessary “experience working in war conditions and dealing with international institutions.”
Will the government’s work change?
Petro Oleshchuk, a political scientist at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, told DW that despite a number of high-level corruption scandals, Zelenskyy wanted to demonstrate confidence in his team by reshuffling rather than changing ministers completely.
“Shmyhal’s transfer to another position within the government is intended to show that there is no internal conflict. These are merely personnel changes within a team,” Oleshchuk said.
Saakyan thinks that the fact that the government reshuffle had not been extensive was actually a sign that there was an acute shortage of qualified and trustworthy candidates. He said that the new government would be forced to deliver quick results but remained skeptical about the future. “This is an adrenaline shot for the current government. But its quality will not change fundamentally,” he predicted. Zelenskyy has already outlined the new government’s key priorities, which include increasing domestic arms production, developing defense projects and deregulating the economy.
This article was originally published in Ukrainian.
