“Regional” call-up of ministers

On June 2 the Crimean parliament held an unscheduled session to form a new government for this autonomous republic. Seventy-five out of 93 registered deputies voted to install Viktor Plakyda, a former electricity supply executive, as the new chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers. Addressing the deputies, Plakyda said he had no experience of working in the executive branch, had never been involved in politics, did not know some of his ministers personally. But when their candidatures were being discussed, he said he relied on the experience of the parliament’s coalition majority, which he trusts completely. Parliament also appointed 6 (!) deputy premiers, 12 ministers, and 9 chairpersons of republican state committees.

A qualitative analysis of the new Council of Ministers shows that, owing to a shortage of manpower in the coalition majority consisting of representatives of the Party of Regions, the Communist Party, Vitrenko’s Bloc, and the Union Party, it was decided to “call up” many new people, who have no experience of executive work, to assume ministerial offices. To meet the portfolio demand, the Crimean parliament not only increased the number of ministerial seats but also canceled the reform of the government structure once carried out by Anatoliy Matviyenko, and restored the institution of republican committees.

The coalition ruled that the new head of government should have six vice-premiers (including three first vice-premiers) instead of three. However, there were not enough portfolios for everybody. The Union faction threatened to boycott the vote on the package because, according to faction leader Volodymyr Klychnykov, the coalition agreement had been breached, although the factions never formally signed this agreement.

The Union leader and former MP Lev Mirimsky could not assume even the vice-premier’s office, let alone the post of vice-speaker, although during the elections he had laid claim to the office of Parliamentary Speaker. A few more “unionists,” who had dreamed of ministerial chairs, were also left empty-handed. Thus, 64 instead of the customary 75 MPs (minus the Union faction) voted in favor of the “packet of ministers.” No portfolios were found for Nestor Shufrych and Dmytro Tabachnyk from Kyiv or Hanna Antonyeva from Kirovohrad. The opposition factions were also left to their own devices.

This time, the “Kurultai-Rukh” faction had no reasons to protest. The Crimean parliament refrained from repeating the last session’s scenario, when not a single Crimean Tatar was elected to the parliamentarian leadership. Obviously, the warning issued by Hennadiy Moskal, President Yushchenko’s permanent representative in the Crimea, that Crimean Tatars should be assigned the same quota in the new government as in the previous one, played a role here.

As a result, Aziz Abdullayev became the first deputy head of the government, Rayet Settarov — minister of labor and social policies, Server Saliyev — head of the Crimean Committee for National Minorities, and Shevket Asanov — head of the Crimean Committee for Waterworks Construction and Irrigated Land Management.

It is too early to ask whether the government that was formed by the mass conscription of largely inexperienced people for ministerial offices will cope with governing the Crimea. On the one hand, the outgoing government is leaving behind a burgeoning economy: the budget was fulfilled by 106.6 percent, industrial output rose by 101.1 percent, agricultural output increased by 102.9 percent, and UAH 30 million were left as free funds in the finance ministry’s accounts. On the other hand, the incoming government faces the difficult task of compensating for the fuel price hike, rising utility rates, gathering the harvest, and preparing for a winter that people say will be a demanding test for any government.