Ukraine eyes Thursday vote

Strife-torn Ukraine appeared to move a step closer Wednesday to agreeing a new pro-EU government headed by parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman that could be voted on the following day.

A senior member of President Petro Poroshenko's party said that "according to my information, all the agreements have been reached and no further questions remain."

"We will submit the prime minister's candidacy to the president and (on Thursday) be able to vote on the approval of both a new premier and government," Poroshenko party deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko told reporters.

Ukraine has been gripped by a months-long political crisis that forced Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to resign Sunday over his seeming failure to fight graft and implement economic restructuring measures prescribed by the IMF under a $17.5-billion (15.4-billion-euro) rescue loan.

The release of new tranches of that money and billions of dollars of other aid have been suspended until the former Soviet republic can unite behind a new government and fulfil the pledges made during its historic February 2014 pro-EU revolt.
The leaders who succeeded the ousted Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych have seen their approval ratings plunge due to public disillusionment about their ability to break a handful of tycoons' grip on politics and eliminate corruption.

The pro-EU coalition that formed after the so-called Maidan Revolution has since cracked and forced the parties led by Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk -- parliament's two largest -- to enlist a handful of other lawmakers to make sure that a new government is approved.

Groysman himself sounded a more cautious note than Goncharenko when speaking to reporters before another marathon day of parliamentary debates.

"The situation is very difficult," said Groysman, 38, a lawyer by training.

"But the time has come for us to assume responsibility. I think we have reached a format that may be acceptable, responsible and capable of leading our country out of crisis."

- Risks for Poroshenko -

The political mayhem comes against the backdrop of a two-year-old pro-Russian revolt in the separatist east that has claimed nearly 9,200 lives.

Russia denies charges by Kiev and its Western allies of orchestrating and supporting the insurgency in reprisal for Ukraine's turn toward the West.
Lists of potential cabinet member published by Ukrainian media and mentioned by lawmakers include none of the three foreign nationals Poroshenko called up in December 2014 to help the country recover from its dramatic economic slide.

These included widely-respected Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko -- a US-born former State Department worker and private banker who won plaudits for being able to pull off a crucial debt restructuring deal in August 2015.

"Yatsenyuk's resignation will create more risks for Poroshenko's rule," analyst Mikhail Minakov of Carnegie Europe wrote in a report.

"With Yatsenyuk gone, Poroshenko will be the major politician responsible for the success of Ukraine's reforms."
Source: AFP