Premier in “Emotional Opposition To Fuel-and-Energy Complex”
On February 15 Minister for Fuel and Energy Serhiy Yermilov said that Ukraine and Russia would resume the parallel functioning of their energy systems if “customs gives the go-ahead.” However, it is not this important statement that evinced media interest in meeting the Ukrainian energy leader. On the previous day Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko disclosed he had suggested eight days before that President Leonid Kuchma dismiss Yermilov and Chairman of the National Electrical Power Regulating Commission (NEPRC) Oleksandr Hridasov. According to the premier, the government is dissatisfied with the policy of these ministries, especially with the way they organized the payment of electric bills.
At the very beginning of his press conference, Mr. Yermilov assured the journalists present that he would hold a two-day conference on energy problems in early March. Does this mean the minister feels reassured and is not going to quit in spite of the well-known, and now public, negative attitude of the premier? Answering this question of The Day, Mr. Yermilov commented on the premier’s statement, “I first heard this at a cabinet meeting and think this was an emotional outburst (after the arrest of Yuliya Tymoshenko was reported? — Ed.) by Mr. Yushchenko. But then I reported on the current settlements for electrical power, and no remarks were made. So I think this is a temporary thing. Today the Fuel and Energy Ministry is working on payments: the early February index matched the record level of last October.”
Answering journalists’ questions, Mr. Yermilov emphasized that former Vice Premier Yuliya Tymoshenko had done a good job but, as he put it, it was not she who initiated energy reforms. The relevant proposals, the minister said, were put forward at the end of 1999 by then Energy Minister Oleksiy Sheberstov, who also laid the groundwork (by almost completely phasing out promissory notes in the energy sector) for switching over to money-based settlements in 2000. Yet, Mr. Yermilov thinks that reforming the energy sector began six month later than planned precisely due to Mrs. Tymoshenko who pondered too long on the matter. This resulted in the consumption of natural gas worth $700 million, which is now a public debt to Russia. The minister claimed Tymoshenko “also had other motives at work in the fuel-and- energy complex.” Explaining this phrase, he said Ms. Tymoshenko had lobbied decisions on the payment of United Energy Systems of Ukraine debts. These decisions were not made because “the Ministry of Fuel and Energy intervened, leaving these funds in this country. Still, 200 million flew out the window.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Yushchenko claims the ministry and the NEPRC “pursued a policy (in the field of energy, Interfax-Ukraine specifies) contrary to the goals the cabinet set.”
It will be recalled that after the resignation of Serhiy Tulub, who “could not work with” Tymoshenko, the candidacy of Mr. Yermilov as fuel and energy minister was proposed by Mr. Yushchenko himself.
