Yatsenyuk steps down as prime minister
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he will resign on April 12.
Photo by AFP
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation on April 10 and mentioned parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman as his potential successor.
In a televised address to the nation, Yatsenyuk promised to submit his resignation to parliament on April 12.
“We cannot allow destabilization of the executive branch during a war,” he said.
Yatsenyuk became chief of the government on a wave of EuroMaidan Revolution in February 2014, but he lost his rating to nearly zero over the austerity measures imposed by the government and also the numerous accusations of rampant corruption.
But despite admitting Yatsenyuk’s work unsatisfactory, the parliament failed to collect enough votes to dismiss him in mid-February, plunging the country in a political crisis for almost two months. Batkivshchyna and Samopomich parliament factions left the pro-government coalition over Yatsenyuk’s stay, opening a way for the snap parliamentary elections.
Yatsenyuk claimed the political crisis “was created artificially” but said he decided to step down after “having done everything to ensure stability and continuity” of his course.
Yatsenyuk said Groysman was nominated by President Petro Poroshenko party faction in parliament. He added that his own parliament faction People’s Front “remains in coalition because today it is the only way to defend the state.”
Despite a mutual distrust between Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko, their parliament factions are planning to create a new coalition, luring also some independent lawmakers to collect the necessary 226 votes, minimum required for coalition.
Yatsenyuk didn’t make clear what job he was going to take after his resignation, saying only that he will focus new electoral law, reform of Constitution, judicial reform, “coalition control over direction of the new government.” He added that Ukraine’s international support and country’s integration into NATO and the European Union would also be part of his new agenda.
“As of today my goals are broader than the authority of the head of Government,” he said.
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