Political and Corruption Crisis Overshadows Panorama in Ukraine

11 de febrero de 2016, 09:55Kyiv, Feb 11 (Prensa Latina) The increasing reference in the media to the possible dismissal of Prime Minister Arseni Yatseniuk and his Executive, and the limited progress in fighting corruption generate pessimism in the ruling elite of Ukraine.

Representatives of President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc (BPP) and Yatseniuk’s Popular Front, the two most important forces of the majority coalition in parliament, declared to Ukrainskaya Pravda (‘Ukrainian Truth’) that the president has no doubts any longer of dismissing the chief of staff. He is thinking about who will come next. As soon as he finds a candidate with votes, Poroshenko will remove Yatseniuk from office, said BPP sources said to the publication.

The informants, classified as ‘close to Poroshenko’, said that Vladimir Groisman, president of the Supreme Rada (Parliament), Alexander Turchinov, secretary of the Security Council, and even the former Georgian president, nationalized in Ukraine, Mikhail Saakashvili, are standing out among the candidates for prime minister.

UNIAN, the Ukrainian news agency, meanwhile, reported that Poroshenko has another candidate for the post of chief executive, ‘but they refused to give his name.’

According to the media outlet, a survey of the sociological group Rating indicates that the removal of Yatseniuk is supported today by about 70 percent of Ukrainians, opposed to October, when the hypothetical decision was supported by 60 percent of the population.

In this context, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, warned that it is difficult for the institution to continue the so-called program of financing to Kyiv, if Ukraine does not fight corruption adequately.

The head of the financial forum specialized in neoliberal shock therapies reiterated that she is ‘concerned about the slow progress of Ukraine in improving public administration, fighting corruption and reducing the influence of interests of profit in politics.’

She warned in a statement circulated to the press that if significant efforts are made to give a new impetus to reforms in the public administration and the fight against corruption, it is difficult to imagine that the program supported by the IMF to continue and succeed.

Ukraine risks returning to the practice of unsuccessful economic measures, of which there have been enough in its modern history. It is vital that the current actions of the leaders return the country to the encouraging path of reforms, Lagarde wrote.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said on Twitter that the warning of the IMF is another argument for the implementation of the restart, oriented towards the reform of the government of Ukraine and zero tolerance to corruption.

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