No rights, only duties

The prime minister has appointed his advisers. While the staff shuffles in the Presidential Secretariat were vigorously debated by the general public and the mass media, important appointments that recently took place in the Cabinet of Ministers were barely noticed. Viktor Yanukovych has created a “turnkey” institution of advisers, including both staff members and those who will give him advice on a voluntary basis.

Our national government leaders have always had advisers, because a single prime minister cannot always come up with a successful formula to solve problems of state significance. However, in today’s conditions, where there is open conflict between government officials and the presidential staff, the creation of an advisory staff within the government is being considered as a counterbalance to the president’s new staff.

Viktor Yanukovych has appointed verified people for these appointments. There are no casual bystanders on the governmental advisers’ staff.

The prime minister has appointed Ihor Yushko, Volodymyr Semynozhenko, Serhii Zinchenko, and Volodymyr Yatsuba as his staff advisers by means of appropriate decrees.

Yushko was Minister of Finance from December to November 2002 and Leonid Kuchma’s adviser in 2003.

Semynozhenko was Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Questions from May 2001 to November 2002. He was the leader of the Party of Regions until April 2003, when the party was headed by its current leader, Viktor Yanukovych. Semynozhenko was Kuchma’s adviser in 2003.

Yatsuba was the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration from July 2003 to December 2004. He was appointed to the Cabinet of Ministers in Yanukovych’s government in June 2003. The prime minister has also appointed Anatolii Halchynsky, Andrii Honcharuk, Yevhen Kushnariov, and Volodymyr Demydko as his non-staff advisers.

Halchynsky headed the board of the National Bank from October 2000 to Feb. 28, 2005. He was the director of the National Institute of Strategic Research from June 2002 to January 2005, and President Kuchma’s adviser from 1997 to January 2005.

Honcharuk was state secretary for questions of European integration at the Ministry of Economy from July 2002 to February 2003. In August 2001 he was appointed first deputy of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy.

Kushnariov is the deputy leader of the parliamentary fraction of the Party of Regions.

Demydko is a member of the Party of Regions’ fraction in parliament of which he has been a member since September 2006. He is the head of the apparatus of the Donetsk Oblast branch of the Party of Regions.

The post of adviser on special international questions was given to Anatolii Zlenko, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from October 2000 to September 2003.

Ihor Storozhuk, the press secretary of the head of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Lytvyn, from April 2003 to April 2006, Andrii Fialko, President’s Kuchma’s adviser in 2001-2004, and Mykola Kolomiiets have also been appointed advisers to Prime Minister Yanukovych.

The prime minister also appointed as staff adviser Kostiantyn Hryshchenko, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from September 2003 to February 2005.

Earlier, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Hanna Herman, first deputy dead of the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information and deputy from the Party of Regions as his unpaid adviser. From May to December 2004 she was Viktor Yanukovych’s press secretary.

Leonid Pidpalov, who was the deputy head of President Kuchma’s administration, and Anatolii Orel, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Italy from July 2004 to February 2005 and the head of the Main Department of President Kuchma’s administration on foreign policy questions, were appointed members of the advisory group.

The final appointment to the prime minister’s roster of advisers was made recently. Taras Chornovil will now advise Viktor Yanukovych on a voluntary basis.

What kind of advice will he give to the head of the government? The Day posed a number of questions to the newly-appointed adviser.

Do advisers bear responsibility for those of their ideas that the head of the government decides to implement?

This is regulated by certain enactments that control the activity of advisory services. They do not grant any rights, advantages, or additional possibilities to the advisers. Advisers give their recommendations, but the decision is taken exclusively within the staff structures that bear responsibility for their realization.

On what questions will you be advising the prime minister?

No decision has been made about my sphere of work, i.e., the appointment has taken place, but no points concerning the concrete delineation of the spheres of my influence have been coordinated. But the main questions in my work, I guess, will be questions of domestic policy. Advisers often conduct brainstorming sessions whenever problems arise. I will also take part in these discussions and participate actively in discussing diplomatic problems, although I consider myself to be less competent than the prime minister’s foreign policy advisers.

Does the formation of the prime minister’s advisory staff spell the creation of a powerful counterbalance to the president’s revitalized milieu?

No, I don’t agree with such a thesis. Why was the same thing done in 2003, when Yanukovych came to power? And in 2000, when Yushchenko became prime minister? And in 2001, when Kinakh became the head of the government? It is quite natural for every new prime minister to create a corresponding structure.

The problem is that we very quickly forget about the actions of past state officials. We can take the list of people who were appointed by Viktor Yushchenko when he was prime minister. There are also interesting personalities, sometimes unexpected ones. As for this list, I must say, that most of them were people who were advising Yushchenko about what he wanted to hear. That is why, unfortunately, there were no unexpected proposals as a rule.