Cabinet reshuffle in Ukraine: Reform or dependence?

(Baonghean) - After the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in October, the results were favorable for President Petro Poroshenko's party and the pro-Western parliamentary bloc. Once he had "controlled" the National Assembly, Mr. Poroshenko strongly realized his reform plan, first of all, the political change measure: Open the door to recruiting foreigners to hold some important positions in the cabinet. On January 2, he signed a decree to allow "foreign soldiers" to sit in some important seats in the government.

To achieve the extremely important tasks set by the ruling coalition, including ensuring Ukraine's defense capabilities, restoring economic growth, and protecting the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens, many reform measures have been taken into account. It will be difficult to make changes without competent people to lead and manage the change, so the top priority of Mr. Poroshenko is to make drastic changes in personnel. This includes recruiting foreigners to take up a number of cabinet positions. This is unprecedented because the Ukrainian Constitution does not allow it. No problem, after winning the recent parliamentary elections, Mr. Petro Poroshenko immediately implemented the plan to amend the national Constitution with the main change being to allow the appointment of foreigners to government positions.

Members of the Ukrainian cabinet. Photo from the internet

Then, after having a favorable legal corridor from the amended Constitution, on December 2, Mr. Poroshenko signed a decree granting citizenship to American, Georgian and Lithuanian citizens so that they can take up senior positions in the new government. Specifically: Ms. Natalie Jaresko - American citizen, Chairman of Horizon Capital private investment fund, was granted Ukrainian citizenship to become Minister of Finance. Mr. Lithuanian Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian investment banker, was granted Ukrainian citizenship to hold the position of Minister of Economy. Mr. Alexander Kvitashvili, former Georgian Health Minister, currently holding additional US citizenship, was granted additional Ukrainian citizenship to be appointed as Minister of Health of Ukraine. Previously, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenuk introduced a figure with a position in the European Union for the position of Vice President of the Ministry of European Integration (EIA). Another news channel said that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was also proposed by the Ukrainian government to be given the position of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, but Mr. Mikheil refused.

Currently, the number of "foreign soldiers" in the Ukrainian cabinet has not shown any signs of stopping. The President of Ukraine has publicly announced the possibility of finding a foreigner to take on the position of head of the newly established National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB). The reason given by Mr. Poroshenko is that a foreigner will be very objective and will have less difficulty in preventing and fighting corruption. The advantage of using foreigners in anti-corruption work is that they "are not related to the political class in Ukraine".

On December 2, before the Ukrainian Parliament, President Petro Poroshenko presented his decree granting citizenship to foreign citizens to take up senior positions in the new government with the aim of: "learning from foreign experiences to get out of the brink of bankruptcy after many years of corruption and political instability".

However, with the Ukrainian cabinet being expanded with the highest rate of "importation" ever, there is public opinion that this is a concrete manifestation of Ukraine being "Westernized", a process of "dependence". Also on December 2, the Russian News Agency (Tass) said that President Petro Poroshenko's unprecedented decision could make Ukraine subject to outside influence. Looking at the nationality and "political composition" of the above-mentioned proposed and granted Ukrainian citizenship, it is clear that Tass's assessment is well-founded. Because all of the above-mentioned figures come from the United States or pro-American countries, countries that have been and are strongly supporting political reforms in Ukraine and backing Mr. Poroshenko's government.

In response to these public opinions, to avoid disadvantages for the US and retaliation from Russia, the Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department denied the information that Washington was involved in Ukraine's selection of an American as Minister of Finance, saying, "This is the choice of the Ukrainian people and was approved by the Ukrainian Parliament. This is their decision."

Whatever the public opinion, the granting of citizenship to foreigners and their inclusion in the Ukrainian cabinet has been carried out. The will of the President and the Ukrainian Parliament has been carried out. Russia has not backed down and it is clear that the Ukrainian government has not given up. But most likely, the Ukrainian government has not decided its own fate. The conflicts have not stopped in this Eastern European country.

Chi Linh Mountain