Opening statement by Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a session of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, April 9, 2014

posted 09 April 2014 14:13

First of all I’d like to welcome the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the supporting of initiatives of the Government and political parties on the adoption of the Law on Lustration of Court System. The Government accepted the proposal to the Parliament - the bill "On Restoring confidence in the judicial system." It is important step towards the restoration of the independence of the judiciary and the establishment of fair and impartial justice that the Parliament passed first major decision on lustration and renewal of the judicial system yesterday.

Today, at the Government session, we will consider the draft law "On the establishment of the National Service for Combating Corruption." This bill was developed by the Ministry of Justice and our government Commissioner for anti-corruption policy Tatyana Chornovol. The same bill is in the Parliament and this is the second step, on which we will start combating corruption not only in the judicial system, but also in all state executive authorities and in general in all the power in the country. We appeal to the Parliament to consider urgently this bill and allow creating an independent body that will not just start combat corruption, but really begin to root out corruption from all bodies of the executive power.

A bill to combat corruption, but otherwise than the criminal prosecution will also be considered in Parliament today. Therefore, in order to combat corruption we must not only create the proper state authorities, but also we must deal with the real deregulation. The smaller powers the official has the less chance to take bribes. The simpler rules for issuing permits the less need to engage in bribery and verbal agreements with the authorities. So, a bill on abolition in half of all sorts of permits will be considered today in the Parliament. Including documents relating to the release of agriculture from excessive losses and this is the issuance of various kinds of certificates. This is the certification of grain storages. I’d to appeal to MPs to vote the bill. So, the Government loses a number of powers. We deliberately go for it. We deliberately refuse that ministries and agencies in Ukraine issue the hundreds or thousands of permits. We deliberately do that the central government was not a large gathering, who and what a paper give on not.

Deregulation, reducing powers and corresponding reduction of corruption - this is our agenda for today. Also, the transfer of authority to the regions. We started to do it on the example of State Building Control Inspection. And the requirement concerns each ministry. What we do not need to perform the core functions of the state, we have to cancel the permits or transfer them to regions so that people make decisions whether one or another licensing procedure is required or not on their own mind. And to issued documents to entrepreneurs for smooth procedure.

Therefore, I would like to invite Tatyana Chornovol to report on the draft law.

(Chornovol’s report).

A.Yatsenyuk:

Once more again. We have some tasks. The first – this is the deregulation and simplification of issuing permits and deprivation of central government of extrinsic functions for them. The less authority – the less corruption. Therefore, I appeal to the Parliament and the coalition to vote for abolition 70 permits from 143 that envisaged by the law. This is the real way to fight corruption.

Regarding the draft law on National Service for Combating Corruption - I ask Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, and especially Tatyana Chornovol to follow the passage of the bill in the Parliament that during the first and second readings were taken into account all the proposals that make it possible to create an effective service that really give the real result of combating corruption.

And the third - I ask the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to continue the work on the deregulation of the Ukrainian economy, reducing the powers of the central and local authorities and about to learn experience from including our Georgian colleagues, how to clean from Ukraine metastases of corruption which exist up to this day.

And I insist on this separately. The corruption at the lower and middle levels remains and waits how developments will undergo. And the event will be held as follows - tough and a real fight. It is enough already those who buy “golden loaves”. Those who buy “golden loaves” must come the acid "being kept far away from home."