First Azarov Government | |
|---|---|
 15th Cabinet of Ukraine (since 1990) | |
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| Date formed | March 11, 2010 |
| Date dissolved | December 3, 2012 |
| People and organisations | |
| Head of state | Viktor Yanukovych |
| Head of government | Mykola Azarov |
| Deputy head of government | Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi |
| No. of ministers | 18 |
| Member party | Party of Regions Communist Party of Ukraine Lytvyn Bloc |
| Status in legislature | Coalition "Stability and reforms" |
| Opposition cabinet | Dictatorship Resistance Committee |
| Opposition party | Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc NUNS |
| Opposition leader | Serhiy Sobolev (head of shadow government) |
| History | |
| Legislature term | 5 years |
| Predecessor | Second Tymoshenko government |
| Successor | Second Azarov government |
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 Ukraine portal |
Thefirst Azarov government (Ukrainian:Перший уряд Миколи Азарова,Russian: Первое правительство Николая Азарова) was Ukraine'scabinet from its appointment on March 11, 2010 until its dissolution on December 3, 2012. It continued to serve as acaretaker government[1] until 24 December 2012, when thesecond Azarov government was appointed bypresidentViktor Yanukovych.[2]
The cabinet was formed as part of the "Stability and Reform" coalition between theParty of Regions,Lytvyn Bloc and theCommunist Party of Ukraine in theVerkhovna Rada,Ukraine's parliament. The government was led byprime ministerMykola Azarov, who succeeded the oustedsecond Tymoshenko government led by ex-prime ministerYulia Tymoshenko. The Azarov government worked in cooperation with President Yanukovych.
A November 2010Razumkov Centre nationwide survey showed that only 13.2 percent of respondents fully supported the Azarov Government while 45 percent stated they did not.[3]
Its composition was reshuffled by Yanukovych early in 2012.[4]
On December 3, 2012, the government became acaretaker government afterUkrainian presidentViktor Yanukovich accepted the resignation of prime minister Mykola Azarov and his government following the28 October 2012 parliamentary election.[1] A number of government members, including Prime Minister Azarov, were elected to parliament in that election.[1] In order to get these parliamentary mandates they were obliged to submit documents on the dismissal from their previous job to theCentral Election Commission within 20 days after the election (by December 3).[5]
On 9 December 2012, Yanukovych nominated Azarov for a new term as prime minister.[6] This nomination was approved by parliament on 13 December 2012.[7] On 24 December 2012, thesecond Azarov government was appointed by President Yanukovych.[2]
In January 2013, President Yanukovych stated the government "has not completely fulfilled the assigned tasks on ensuring the introduction of reform and economic growth. This led to the fact that the results in 2012 were much worse than expected".[8]
Azarov's immediate predecessorYulia 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".[9]
According to a February 2010 poll bythe Kyiv Gorshenin Institute of Management Issues mostUkrainians wanted not a politician for prime minister but "a professional premier, who will implement unpopular reforms".[10]
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.[11] TheVerkhovna Rada 2010 budget was not presented at a parliament meeting, but approved on May 14, 2010.[12][13]
According to former presidentVictor Yushchenko the March 9, 2010 parliamentary amendment that made it possible for individual members of a parliamentary faction to join a coalition violated theUkrainian Constitution,[14] formerMinister of Internal AffairsYuriy Lutsenko accused Yanukovych of "trying to buy members of parliament for a new coalition"[15] (PresidentViktor Yanukovych accused Lutsenko of badly handling the affairs at theMinistry of Internal Affairs before appointing Anatolii Mohyliov to Lutsenko's old position.[16]) 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".[17] Yushchenko did send a letter to Yanukovych with a request to veto the law on March 10.[18] Yanukovych signed the law nevertheless.[19] 56 lawmakers filed a challenge to the law who made these amendments possible on March 11, 2010, at theConstitutional Court of Ukraine.[19][20] On March 16, 2010, Minister of JusticeOleksandr 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.[21] On March 26, 2010, President Yanukovych told a delegation from theEuropean Parliament "If the decision of the Constitutional Court will be that the coalition was formed illegally, then I will take a decision on asnap election, I will never go down the path of breaching the constitution that is in force".[22] The Constitutional Court reviewing the case late March 2010.[22] On urgent matters the court rules within weeks but on matters deemed less urgent it can take months or even longer.[22] On March 29, 2010, former premier andYulia Tymoshenko Bloc leaderYulia 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.[23] This was denied by Yanukovych'sParty of Regions.[24]
On April 8, 2010, the Constitutional Court ruled that the coalition supporting the Azarov government in parliament had been formed legally.[25] The shadow government called the Constitutional Court ruling "cynical, hypocritical, and illegal".[26]
The Azarov 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.[citation needed] That fact reflects direct disregard for theConstitution of Ukraine. Some of the members do not even qualify to the assigned positions either as in case withValeriy Khoroshkovskiy who was elected to the Supreme Council of Justice.[27] Some of the members of the government received their government assignments without a basic knowledge of thestate language as in case with the Minister of Internal Affairs Mohyliov.[28] 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.[29] Among the eight opposition parties areAll-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland",Rukh,European Party of Ukraine,People's Self-Defense,Reforms and Order Party,Motherland Defenders Party,Christian-Democratic Union, andUkrainian Social-Democratic Party. Tymoshenko immediately nominated a prime minister for the future opposition government (so calledshadow 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.[30] On March 31, 2010, all members of this government were named.[31] It is headed by parliamentarian Serhiy Sobolev ofBloc of Yulia Tymoshenko.[31] Its vice premier, Volodymyr Stretovych, was dismissed on 7 February 2011, because "he had finally taken the side of the government".[32]
Arseniy Yatsenyuk formed another oppositional government in March 2010.[33]
On 8 August 2011All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland",Rukh,European Party of Ukraine,People's Self-Defense,Reforms and Order Party,Motherland Defenders Party,Civil Position andFront for Change formed theDictatorship Resistance Committee "to better coordinate our efforts".[34][35][36]
On March 11, 2010,Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the structure of theCabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.[37] Note, Tihipko even though is a leader of theStrong Ukraine party, he was elected to Cabinet as unaffiliated. Strong Ukraine in Verkhovna Rada is not an independent party. The same goes withVasyl Tsushko who was a former member of theSocialist Party of Ukraine at the time of his appointment (he became the leader of that party in July 2010[38]); Tsushko was appointed on quote of theCommunist Party.[39]
The Cabinet originally consisted of 29 ministers, four more than theprevious government,[40] but has since been trimmed down.[41][42][43] 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.[44][45] 8 out of the original 29 Cabinet members were born inDonetsk and theDonetsk Oblast.[46]
The Cabinet was (also at the time of its installation) Europe's only government that has no female members in its composition tillRaisa Bohatyryova was appointedMinister of Healthcare andVice Prime Minister of Ukraine on 14 February 2012.[44][47] It was the first Ukrainian government without a female minister.[48]
As of May 21, 2010, the Cabinet stated it was planning to create a "Ministry of Science, Technologies and Innovation of Ukraine".[49]
| Party key | Party of Regions | |
|---|---|---|
| Lytvyn Bloc | ||
| Strong Ukraine | ||
| United Centre | ||
| Socialist Party of Ukraine | ||
| Non-party politician |
| Office | Party | Incumbent[50] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister | Mykola Azarov | ||
| First Vice Prime Minister | Minister of Economic Development and Trade | Andriy Klyuev(December 9, 2010 - February 14, 2012, he left the government to head theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine) | |
| Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi(since February 22, 2012)[51] | |||
| Vice Prime Minister | Minister of Infrastructure (responsible for hostingEuro 2012) | Borys Kolesnikov(from December 9, 2010) | |
| Vice Prime Minister | Minister of Social Policy(since December 9, 2010) | Serhii Tihipko | |
| Vice Prime Minister | Minister of Healthcare(since February 14, 2012) | Raisa Bohatyriova(since February 14, 2012)[47] | |
| Vice Prime Minister | Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Communal Living(December 9, 2010 - June 1, 2011) | Viktor Tykhonov(till June 1, 2011) | |
| Vice Prime Minister (on issues of humanitarian policy) | Volodymyr Semynozhenko(till July 2, 2010) | ||
| Vice Prime Minister (on the "Security bloc") | Volodymyr Sivkovych(till October 13, 2010) | ||
| Vice Prime Minister (on issues of agrarian and industrial complex) | Viktor Slauta(till October 13, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Economy[note 1] | Vasyl Tsushko(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Petro Poroshenko(since March 23, 2012) | |||
| Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Communal Living | Anatoliy Blyzniuk(July 12, 2011 - December 3, 2012) | ||
| Minister of Education and Science, Youth and Sport | Dmytro Tabachnyk | ||
| Minister of Culture and Tourism[note 2] | Mykhailo Kulyniak | ||
| Minister of Defense | Mykhailo Yezhel(till February 8, 2012) Dmytro Salamatin[52] | ||
| 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(till January 18, 2012) | ||
| Valeriy Khoroshkovsky(January 18 - February 22, 2012) | |||
| Yuriy Kolobov(since February 28, 2012)[53] | |||
| Minister of Fuel and Energy[note 3] | Yuriy Boyko | ||
| Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine | Viktor Boyko(till July 2, 2010) | ||
| Mykola Zlochevsky(July 2, 2010 - April 20, 2012) | |||
| Eduard Stavytsky(since April 20, 2012) | |||
| Minister on Issues of Emergencies and Population Security from consequences of Chornobyl Catastrophe[note 4] | Nestor Shufrych(till July 10, 2010) | ||
| Viktor Baloha(November 12, 2010 - December 3, 2012) | |||
| Minister of Healthcare | Zynoviy Mytnyk(till December 21, 2010) | ||
| Illia Yemets(December 21, 2010 - May 24, 2011) | |||
| Oleksandr Anishchenko(May 24, 2011 - February 14, 2012) | |||
| Minister of Regional Development and Construction[note 5] | Volodymyr Yatsuba(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Communal Living[note 6] | Oleksandr Popov(till June 17, 2010) | ||
| Yuriy Khivrich(June 17 - December 9, 2010) | |||
| Minister of Transportation and Communication[note 7] | Kostyantyn Yefymenko(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Labor and Social Policy[note 8] | Vasyl Nadraha(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Industrial Policy[note 9] | Dmytro Kolyesnikov(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Coal Industry[note 10] | Yuriy Yashchenko(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Family, Youth and Sports[note 11] | Ravil Safiullin(till December 9, 2010) | ||
| Minister of Cabinet of Ministers[note 12] | Anatoliy Tolstoukhov(till December 9, 2010) | ||
On June 2, 2010, deputy-minister of Environmental Protection Bogdan Presner was sacked for accepting a bribe of $200,000[54] (he was sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2011[55]). On June 17, 2010, Minister on Communal Living Oleksandr Popov (Party of Regions) was replaced by Yuriy Hivrich.[56][57]
On July 2, 2010, Minister of Environmental Protection Viktor Boyko (Bloc Lytvyn) was replaced by Mykola Zlochevskiy[58][59][60] and Vice Prime MinisterVolodymyr Seminozhenko was fired by theVerkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) the same day.[41] A draft resolution proposing the dismissal of Semynozhenko was submitted by lawmaker Olha Bodnar ofBloc Yulia Tymoshenko.[41] On July 10, 2010, Minister of Extraordinary SituationsNestor Shufrych was dismissed byVerkhovna Rada.[61] For his dismissal voted 256 deputies. HoweverViktor Yanukovych found a new assignment for Shufrych and appointed him as the assistant to the secretary of theCouncil for National Security.[62] Shufrych's duties were temporary assigned to Volodymyr Antonets[63] till Mikhail Bolotskikh was appointed acting minister on July 23, 2010.[64] 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 theSocialist 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).[65] 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 were overturned.[65]
On November 12, 2010, President Yanukovych appointed Viktor Baloha (United Centre) Minister of Emergencies and Minister of the Protection of the Population from theChernobyl disaster.[66] According to Baloha this did not mean his party would join the coalition.[67] Early 2010 United Centre had rejected any possibility of joining a parliamentary coalition with theCommunist Party of Ukraine.[68][69]
Another mayor reshuffle took place in December 2010, which reduced the number of ministers[43][70] This was part of an administrative reform set in motion byUkrainian presidentViktor Yanukovych with the aim to reduce the number of civil servants in Ukraine.[42][71] (see below Yanukovych Administration Reform)
A number of deputy ministers were dismissed early April 2011.[72]
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.[73][74]
Anatolii Mohyliov was replaced asMinister of Internal Affairs byVitaliy Zakharchenko in November 2011.[75][76]
Minister of Finance Fedir Yaroshenko resigned on 18 January 2012, and was replaced byValeriy Khoroshkovsky the same day.[77]
Minister of DefenceMykhailo Yezhel was sacked by President Yanukovich on 8 February 2012, and replaced byDmytro Salamatin the same day[52][78]
Raisa Bohatyryova was appointedMinister of Healthcare andVice Prime Minister of Ukraine on 14 February 2012;[47] she partly changed places with formerFirst Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine-Minister of Economic Development and TradeAndriy Klyuyev who became Secretary of theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in her place[79][80] while Oleksandr Anischenko lost his job as health minister.[47]
On 22 February 2012, Khoroshkovsky was reshuffled to First Vice Prime Minister-Minister and dismissed as finance minister[51]Yuriy Kolobov was appointed finance minister on 28 February 2012.[81] On 9 March 2012 President Yanukovych stated he wantedPetro Poroshenko to work in the government on the post of economic development and trade minister.[82] Poroshenko was appointed economic development and trade minister of Ukraine by Yanukovych on 23 March 2012.[83]
Vice Prime Minister (Minister of Social Policy)Serhii Tihipko became a member of Party of Regions when that party merged with his former partyStrong Ukraine on 17 March 2012; Strong Ukraine thus had no longer a minister in this Cabinet.[84]
Mykola Zlochevsky was dismissed from the post ofEcology and Natural Resources Minister and appointed as the deputy secretary of theNational Security and Defense Council on 20 April 2012.[85]Eduard Stavytsky was appointed the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources on April 20, 2012. Mykola Azarov introduced the new minister to the Cabinet on April 23, 2012.[86]
On 20 November 2012,Viktor Baloha resigned asMinisters of Emergencies because he preferred to take in the seat in theUkrainian Parliament he had won in the October2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[87]
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 ofmedical services.[92]
In order to increase state revenues with at least Hryvnya 10 billion the government is planning to step up privatization in 2010.[97]
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.[98]
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 2004Orange Revolution).[99][100][101] Yanukovych signed a new Tax Code on December 3, 2010.[102]
in an (Ukraine's) economy analysis of March 2014The Economist claims that poor economic policies by the Azarov Government had weakened the state's finances.[103]
On December 9, 2010, thePresident of Ukraine reloaded a new government.[104] 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.[105]
Prime-minister:Mykola Azarov First vice-premier-minister:Andriy Klyuev(2010–2012),Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi(2012) Vice-premier-minister on issues of economic matters:Serhiy Tihipko Vice-premier-minister on issues ofEuro 2012:Borys Kolesnikov Vice-premier-minister on issues of regional policy:Viktor Tykhonov Vice-premier-minister on issues of agrarian and industrial complex:Viktor Slauta(2010) Vice-premier-minister on issues of humanitarian policy:Volodymyr Semynozhenko(2010) Vice-premier-minister on the "Security bloc":Volodymyr Sivkovych(2010) Vice-premier-minister:Raisa Bogatyryova(2012)
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