"It is clear that they were doing in a hurry": the Zelensky bill on lustration of officials was introduced to the parliament

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky registered in the Verkhovna Rada a bill providing for the lustration of officials who held their posts from February 23, 2014 to May 19, 2019.

The document mentions, in particular, the President of Ukraine, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and his deputies, people's deputies, the Prime Minister, members of the government, the leaders of the National Bank of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General, the head of the SBU, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and his deputies, the head of the presidential administration.

In addition, the head of the Anti-Monopoly Committee and the State Property Fund, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, customs and tax authorities, as well as defense enterprises are mentioned in the list of posts subject to lustration.

“In order to stop further abuse of power, his official position in the performance of official duties, to avoid responsibility for actions aimed at his own enrichment, the bill expanded the categories of posts for which measures to clean up power (lustration) are carried out,” the explanatory a note to the document.

Earlier, Zelensky attempted to dismiss a number of officials who worked under Poroshenko, and some of them repeatedly. He tried to achieve the resignation of Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, as well as Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasily Gritsak.

Some of them appealed to the Parliament to release them from their posts, but the deputies voted against.

Ambassadors of the G7 countries criticized the Zelensky initiative on lustration. In its report, the organization noted that electoral change and political rotation is the norm in democratic countries. G7 Ambassadors opposed to this phenomenon the indiscriminate imposition of prohibitions on all participants in the electoral and legislative management processes.

G7 Ambassadors' statement pic.twitter.com/QpFISahMOv

“In 2014, we had a reason to welcome progress in reforming a number of important sectors. Striving for accountability for abuse of official position is the right step. At the same time, we are convinced that the current situation in Ukraine cannot be compared with the one that took place after the Revolution of Dignity, ”a Twitter statement said.

"Will apply to all"

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the president’s representative in the Rada, said that if adopted, the lustration bill would also apply to Zelensky’s entourage, whose representatives have been in power since 2014.

“If this bill is supported, it will apply to everyone, regardless of which team they are in,” said Stefanchuk at a meeting of the Rada on Thursday. His words leads RIA News.

We are talking about the finalization of the law, which was adopted in Ukraine in 2014 under President Poroshenko. The main objective of the document was the removal from power of officials who worked under the previous president, Viktor Yanukovych. According to the document, persons who held senior positions for more than a year during the period from February 25, 2010 to February 22, 2014 were removed from public service.

Note that on Friday, July 12, the last plenary session of the current Verkhovna Rada was held.

According to RIA Novosti, before closing the last plenary session, Parliament Speaker Andrei Paruby reminded the deputies that the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation formally completed its work only on July 19, and they should spend the rest of the week before the special elections in committees, commissions and factions.

The new document is a response to the ex-president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko and his entourage, said Sergey Tsekov, a member of the committee of the Federation Council on international affairs, in an interview with RT.

“The law may be passed by the following composition of the Supreme Council. It is very likely that there will be a large-scale “Servant of the People” party and other parties that are not a continuation of those that are now part of, ”said the senator.

"Mobilize those who voted for him"

With the new lustration bill, Zelensky is counting on public relations, said economist Alexander Okhrimenko, head of the Ukrainian think tank.

“From a formal point of view, he introduced a bill for which today must vote. Understandably, he is well aware that no one will vote. According to the procedure, it is considered that all bills for which they did not vote in the previous Rada should be introduced anew. Whether he will add it again is a big question, ”said the expert in an interview with RT.

He also recalled that in the current form, the bill also applies to Zelensky’s associates, and if approved, the president will have to dismiss many representatives of his entourage.

• Session of the Verkhovna Rada
• RIA News

“It is evident that this bill was made in a big hurry, there are a lot of legal blunders there. Many legal experts say that there is a strong likelihood that this is just self-indulgence. Because in this form it is impossible to take it in a day, ”the expert noted.

Zelensky is gaining popularity with such radical statements, and the electorate, who opposed Poroshenko, should be pleased with this, says Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the IMEMO RAN.

“The main goal of Zelensky’s actions is to maximize the mobilization of those who voted for him, as there are hesitations. We see that he does not do everything he promised, and polls show that he is losing votes, ”said the expert in an interview with RT.

According to a survey of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, the leader of the “Servant of the People” party can become a leader in elections to the Verkhovna Rada. According to the organization, the faction can get 48.5% of the vote.

The closest competitor to the "Servant of the People" is the "Opposition Platform - For Life" (14.1%). The third place is occupied by “European solidarity” (9.2%). Next come Batkivshchyna (6.2%), Golos (4.4%) and Strength and Honor (4.1%).

Olenchenko admitted that according to the results of the discussion of the initiative, Zelensky would look at how strong the positions of Poroshenko and his team were.

“If the former president manages to be shaken, it will mean that you can get rid of his associates in the state apparatus. As long as Poroshenko’s supporters remain in the state apparatus, they will not allow Zelensky to pursue his line, they will sabotage, ”the expert concluded.