EDITORIAL

The invisible minister

So, just who is Valerii Pustovoitenko, the new prime minister of Ukraine? That is the question being asked by many in Ukraine, as well as abroad. In fact, very little is known about the man who was confirmed by Verkhovna Rada deputies by the slimmest of margins to head the government of Ukraine.

What is known is that Mr. Pustovoitenko - the seventh prime minister of Ukraine in its six years of independence, and the fourth to serve under the current president - is a close and loyal ally of President Leonid Kuchma and a member of the "party of power," the National Democratic Party of Ukraine. He is also yet another insider of the Dnipropetrovsk clan. That, say opponents of President Kuchma, is not a good thing, as politicians from Dnipropetrovsk are too dominant.

Up to now, Mr. Pustovoitenko was the minister of the Cabinet of Ministers (he held that same post briefly under the Kravchuk administration), a minister without portfolio who always remained in the background - so much so that observers were hard-pressed to describe his role in the government. His opinions also are not known, as he has rarely commented on domestic or foreign policy issues. On the up side, he is considered to be a pragmatic/managerial type; on the down side he is not perceived as a leader or (heaven forbid!) an innovator. And, there are those who question his low-profile role in the Cabinet and say that, in effect, that shadowy profile contributed to blocking reforms.

The newspaper Den (Day) said the new prime minister has no clear political position or views. The Kyiv daily cited two incidents from his days as mayor of Dnipropetrovsk to illustrate. At one time Mr. Pustovoitenko had ordered the blue-and-yellow flag taken down from the city's central square when the opposition had raised it; however, several months later, after the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, he himself raised the blue-and-yellow flag over his office. Another time he ordered that a monument to Taras Shevchenko be erected in Dnipropetrovsk, but simultaneously allocated funds for flowers to be placed daily at a monument to Vladimir Lenin.

Nor is Mr. Pustovoitenko seen as someone with political ambitions of his own. Thus, President Kuchma is guaranteed the lead role in propelling reforms. At the same time - and here's another plus - this means there will be less struggle between the head of state and the head of government. "The appointment of Pustovoitenko removes all problems in relations between the president and the Cabinet of Ministers," explained Mr. Kuchma's top political advisor, Vasyl Kremin. Plus, because of his close relationship with President Kuchma, perhaps the new prime minister will be able to get into the apparat and actually root out corruption (not just talk about doing it).

But, there is the fact that he was approved by a simple majority (50 percent plus one) of the national deputies in Parliament and that 91 voted against approving him as PM. This would seem to indicate that the battle between the executive and the legislative branches will continue.

In his first few days in office, Prime Minister Pustovoitenko said his priorities are to stimulate private enterprise, reduce taxes, solve the problem of unpaid wages and decrease the size of the shadow economy. Most recently he said he would present his own program as his predecessor's program does not meet current requirements.

Given recent history in Ukraine, where a prime minister lasts in office for approximately a year, Mr. Pustovoitenko had better act quickly.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 27, 1997, No. 30, Vol. LXV

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