Ukranian PM Yatsenyuk to remain in office

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk survived a vote of no confidence in Kiev on Wednesday. President Petro Poroshenko had called for his resignation, but the parliament put its weight behind the prime minister. The Ukrainians nonetheless remain frustrated at the slow pace of reforms, commentators point out.

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Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (PL) /

Government in Kiev still wobbly

Although it survived the vote of no-confidence the government in Kiev will have a hard time staying in office, the conservative daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna believes:

“Two members of the governing coalition - Andriy Sadovyi’s liberal Samopomicz (Self Reliance) and Yulia Tymoshenko's populist Fatherland party - as well as numerous politicians from the presidential PPB Party voted to dissolve the coalition. And yesterday Tymoshenko actually declared her exit from the coalition. In theory the remainder of the PPB and the People’s Front party of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk still have a narrow majority. But in reality it will probably be very tricky to continue to govern in the current configuration. Because a lot of politicians from the presidential PPB party were demoralized by yesterday’s results … And these sort of shenanigans do not wash well with the public.”

De Volkskrant (NL) /

Hopes of reforms dashed

Although Arseniy Yatsenyuk has survived the vote of no confidence his government has lost all popular support, the centre-left daily De Volkskrant comments:

“The Ukrainians hoped the Maidan Revolution would put an end to the widespread corruption in the country. But everything seems to have remained exactly the same: the politicians and business community are still protecting each other. ... Many people also have doubts about the honesty of President Poroshenko, who promised to end the oligarchs' political influence: the president himself belongs to the business elite. ... The people's frustration bubbled to the surface once more when Prime Minister Yatsenyuk ignored the president's call for his resignation. Yatsenyuk has long stopped paying any heed at all to popular opinion, preferring to fight for his own interests instead.”

The Guardian (GB) /

Europe must not lose sight of Kiev

Despite all the problems the EU must continue to provide financial and political support to Ukraine, the centre-left daily The Guardian urges:

“Two years after the Maidan revolution, Ukraine’s slow pace of reform has without doubt created public frustration. The economy has tanked and the prime minister’s approval ratings have plummeted. ... For all this, developments in Ukraine point to the need for more, not less, western and European focus. Both international financial assistance and diplomatic efforts should be kept on track if Ukraine is to be able to stabilise. With all the other problems facing Europe, that may be a hard sell. But it is in Europe’s interest to engage, not turn away.”