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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
19 August the Verkhovna Rada held a session during which it considered, among other things, two draft resolutions submitted by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy — on the appointment of Andriy Sybyha as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Yevhen Khmara as head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Sybyha will head the MFA again; Khmara will, for the first time, head the Ministry of Defense. Meanwhile, MPs from European Solidarity Petro Poroshenko and Iryna Herashchenko staged a historical excursion into the traditions of Ukrainian parliamentarism and entered into a dispute with the Speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk over whether the president must personally present the candidates for these two positions. The publication GORDON reports how it happened and why they mentioned former foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin.
"A time of Ukraine's new geopolitical role"
On the agenda, in addition to personnel matters, were votes on several bills at first reading (among them — the “eBook” program for parents of newborns and a new Customs Code under EU rules) and two bills — on the corporatization of the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant and on ensuring the rights of servicemembers, veterans, and those released from captivity to medical care, rehabilitation, and prosthetics — in full.
After considering those issues, the parliamentarians began discussing the ministerial candidates. The first to take the podium was Sybyha, who previously held the post of MFA head and, in recent weeks after the resignation of Yuliia Svyrydenko's government, was temporarily performing the duties of minister. He outlined his priorities — a just peace, the EU and NATO, and the global Ukrainian community (more details — here) — and stated: "We are at a decisive stage of the war."
At this stage, in his view, diplomacy becomes especially important.
"This is a time of Ukraine's new geopolitical role, but also of challenges of unprecedented scale. That places special responsibility on all of us and dictates the logic of our actions: nothing is more important than ending the war," Sybyha added. In the morning his candidacy was supported by the relevant committee, and in the parliamentary hall for Sybyha's reappointment as minister voted 266 MPs.
"Transcripts don't burn"
Because the president was not at the session and did not present the nominees (this, as with the appointment of Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi, was done by the president's representative in parliament Halyna Mykhailiuk), MPs insisted on his presence. In particular, Holos MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak asked whether a reason was known for why the head of state "couldn't find, despite tennis and archery, five minutes to present the candidates."
"Let's stick to normal dialogue!" responded Speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk. He explained that the regulations do not require the president to personally present candidates for the posts of minister of defense and foreign affairs. He said he had authorized Mykhailiuk to do so. European Solidarity co-chair Iryna Herashchenko then said that although this is not in the rules, "there is a parliamentary tradition."
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"For 35 years parliamentary tradition provided: all five previous presidents and Mr. Zelenskyy presented all of their previous ministers personally," she added. Stefanchuk rejected her arguments, saying that Pavlo Klimkin before his appointment as head of the MFA in June 2014 year "was not presented by anyone at all" (at that time the president was Petro Poroshenko).
Later, after considering the draft resolution on Sybyha's appointment, Herashchenko went to the podium and read out the transcript of the session at which Klimkin was appointed.
On the Rada's website there is a summary of the session with short quotes, but it is not a full transcript. From that summary it follows that Poroshenko was at that session and personally presented the candidate for the post of prosecutor general. The quote Herashchenko cited indicates that in his speech he said these were his first personnel proposals, and the candidates were "true statesmen who headed the Prosecutor General’s Office, the MFA, the National Bank and came into their positions in circumstances close to catastrophic."
European Solidarity leader Poroshenko demanded apologies from Stefanchuk from his seat.
The Speaker replied that "shouting won't work."
"What's the charm... Shouting won't work — he repeated. — Dear colleagues, it's very nice that today you reminded us that transcripts don't burn. This transcript... The start of consideration of the issue we announced began at 11 hr. 43 min. 53 sec. I will not read everything; I'll just say that the decision was adopted at 11.45. The time allotted for consideration of the issue was, dear colleagues, 1 min. 48 sec. instead of 28, as we heard today. Therefore no one could have been presenting anyone. Let's be honest and frank."
He called to move on, but European Solidarity co-chair in the Rada Artur Herasymov again took the podium. "Artur Volodymyrovych, go ahead and keep burying yourself," the Speaker addressed him. Herasymov replied that the vote lasted less than two minutes, and that he had asked colleagues from the seventh convocation of parliament who confirmed that Poroshenko then presented Klimkin. Stefanchuk refused to admit the error, and Poroshenko accused him of lying.
Finally, the MPs moved on to consider Khmara's appointment.
"The life and health of warriors are an unconditional value"
Khmara is a combat general who previously served as acting head of the SBU and until yesterday had been in uniform. At the session he reported that he came to the Rada already as a civilian: he was dismissed from military service under Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine “On Military Duty and Military Service” in connection with the conduct of organizational measures for persons of senior officer rank. Thus, the obstacle that prevented his appointment — that the minister of defense in Ukraine must be a civilian — was removed.
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In his speech Khmara spoke about strengthening the military and the front, developing the defense industry, and working with people as his priorities.
"The life and health of warriors are an unconditional value. Technologies are needed so that the Ukrainian defender has an advantage, so that risk to a person is minimized. My task is to communicate directly with defenders: to hear commanders, to hear warriors, to hear the wounded. From my own experience I also know that a warrior is motivated when he feels respected, receives quality training, and fair rules of service," the general explained.
Khmara is the fifth defense minister in five years of the full-scale war (and the third since the start of the year). Holos MP Solomiia Bobrovska drew attention to these rotations and called for a moratorium on changing the defense minister so that a team would have the chance to work for at least a year. "Because playing with the defense sector for half a year costs us very dearly and literally looks like sabotage." And although he came already as a civilian, responding to one question he answered out of habit to the MP: "Accepted."
One of the tasks the president named for the new defense minister was resolving mobilization issues. In response to Bobrovska's question about mobilization, the reform of the Territorial Recruitment and Coordination Centers and recruitment points, he did not give a clear answer, saying that a comprehensive solution is needed.
"Mobilization — a comprehensive solution must be adopted on it. It must be understood that the first, important component is decent treatment of warriors, the conditions of service and conduct of combat operations. These are the methods of recruiting personnel, equipping, training, provision of armaments, gaining experience, performing combat tasks, and recovery. From accomplishing this task we move on to the mobilization plan. It directly depends on the plan and vision of the war. It must be formed, must now be crystallized, and together with the Commander-in-Chief [of the Armed Forces], with the General Staff we are working all this out," he added, noting that on this issue they will report to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Стенограми не горять". Найцікавіше із засідання Ради, на якому підтримали призначення нових глав МЗС і МО". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
