Public session of the Cabinet of Ministers’ meeting

Kyiv, 3 February 2016

Dear members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,

Dear media representatives,

Today we have a very large agenda, a number of working and technical issues that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine every day is working at.

And normally, I always keep distance from the political assessments and political disputes directly at the Government sessions. Because the Government – it is the executive branch of governance that should fulfill the coalition agreement and the program of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

And the very thing that has been done by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is reflected in the Government’s annual report, which has been sent to the Ukrainian Parliament.Within my remembrance there was no one ever since 1996, when the Government sent the government's program implementation report directly and is ready once again to report and inform to the members of the Ukrainian Parliament.

Since returning to the parliamentary-presidential republic and as by the Constitution the Cabinet of Ministers is formed by the coalition. By the Coalition, that after the parliamentary elections in 2014 included five pro-European factions. The coalition agreement was signed then and the Government which was appointed exactly by the coalition of all five political parties undertook to implement the agreement; to carry out the program of the Government, which was approved and supported by the members of the Ukrainian Parliament.

Perhaps when signing the coalition agreement and approving the action program of the Government not all members of Parliament were really aware of the complex, unpopular but correct steps that need all Ukrainian political class to do, the steps which are to be voted for, which are to be supported and are needed for Ukraine.

Over the past two decades a lot of prime ministers, ministers, as well as many members of the Parliament set in these chairs and other chairs. I hope that in the future, after the democratic elections, this process will continue as well. The democracy is in that.

But primarily the democracy on its basis has the political responsibility; the political responsibility for the word said; the political responsibility for the document signed; the political responsibility for the promises made to the people of Ukraine during the election campaign and which should be kept.

However, if you are a politico, which is now a lot within the Ukrainian politics and, unfortunately, even among the ranks of Ukrainian coalition, so you run away from responsibility, as some factions of the coalition do, which seemed to be in a coalition, but in fact they are worse than the opposition. Because they are afraid.Are afraid of temporary losing rating, without realizing that politics and public activity is a race for a long distance. And a difficult step made today will necessarily give results tomorrow or the day after. And these results we struggle for, and for these results we work.

By the time, when the coalition agreement was signed, everybody was talking about the need for complex reforms, the need to maintain our course to cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the need to introduce market tariffs, the need to privatization, the need to eliminate any political influence on the activities of public companies, and directly to the Government as a whole. But talking is one thing; doing is another – the reality we live in.

The Government took full responsibility for all the unpopular steps that have not been made for the last 20 years. And it’s not just the assessment made bythe members of the Cabinet of Ministers. It’s the assessment of those who help Ukraine today –of ourWestern partners. It’s the assessment of those who are investing billions of dollars to help Ukraine to become a successful state and who are ready to support reform course and the country. But they are willing to do so only if all the Ukrainian political elite will continue to move forward, will not play in a cheap populist policy in order to please everyone for one day, and will responsibly dispose to the challenges facing the country.

The Coalition has formed the Government. I personally put the signature under every Minister who was appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The ministers were appointed from different factions. Now the Government is represented by four parliamentary factions. But from the first day of the appointment of this Government, in the agenda of the Coalition that voted for the Government, swore allegiance to the people of Ukraine, signed a Coalition Agreement that contains a specific provision about helping and assisting the Government in implementing these complex and right reforms, separate members of the Coalition who are in opposition to the Government and to the Coalition itself are just disputing. They are disputing not about how to change the country, but how to change this or that Minister or the entire Government.

In order to change the country, we must have a vision. We have laid out our vision in the Action Plan of the Government, and we are carrying it out.

Ministers and the Government as a whole are constantly under pressure. There are many interesting statements that are expressed by Ukrainian politicians from the Ukrainian Parliament, for example, regarding the fight against corruption.

However, those who are fighting against corruption, in a few minutes after their speech from a press conference or the Parliament tribune, come to the members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in order to solve their problems, to appoint or to remove someone.

It is a dirty political reality against which I stand as Prime Minister and with which we are fighting. Each of us is in his place.

This team which came in the new Ukrainian Government is not just the political team of the Coalition. This is the Government of a new Ukraine. Yes, we make mistakes, but we do them while we are moving forward.

So as Prime Minister I will continue protecting every member of our Government, every Minister. The situation is difficult for everyone now. But our strength is in keeping on fighting.

Unfortunately, under the political pressure a number of ministers were forced to write a statement of resignation. The resignation is accepted only by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. And our faction “Narodnyi Front” will decide on each minister separately regarding the way he worked. I want to note that everyone, who has been in the Government for the past 14 months, did everything and sometimes even more than what he could do.

So I appreciate the position of all those guys who underthe political pressure had to write a statement of resignation. But I am convinced that we have passed too much. And in this situation, resignation means running away from the battlefield.

Here we must continue to fight. Because the forces that want everything back as it used to be (to share quietly under the table state-owned companies, and to appoint so quietly under the table new ministers to be loyal not to the country but to the political forces), they only applaud this. They say: “Well, you can see that we managed to further controltheGovernment, moneyflows and state-owned companies. And to make Ukrainian politics further remain that old, which led to the Maidan”.

So my position is next. We will continue to fight and work. If someone from members of the Parliament is not satisfied with this, they have every constitutional right to gather 150 votes and to put in the Parliamenta resolution of no confidence to the Cabinet of Ministers, to find a majority and take full responsibility. And as Prime Minister, as members of our team, we will respect this democratic decision of the Parliament.

And those who take these steps should be also aware of their responsibilities and the consequences of such actions. Maybe they have other programs. I have not heard of it. Perhaps they have better approaches and better professionals. I have not seen them. Or maybe it’s just an elementary struggle for the power and money flows. It’s possible and I’m stating and certifying it now. All this fuss which hasbeen lastingfor the last year to discredit the Government and some members of the Cabinet of Ministers, whom I support as well as our faction,is focused only on one thing – theredistribution of money flows and seizure of power.

We, as a Government, will continue to do our work. We will implement the Action Plan of the Government. We will carry out reforms. We will protect the members of our team. We will require investigations, as we are conducting now investigations on any facts of abuse, corruption and political pressure to commit corruption, and will refer to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and all anti-corruption bodies, with which I have just had a meeting last week, and which we created to investigate and put all those guilty to justice.

But we are aware of our responsibility for the fate of the country, for the future, the changes and international authority of Ukraine, despite all the difficulties, all the criticism and all the campaigns that go against the Government and the right course of reforms in the country. We will continue to fight and win as we have proved it in the past 24 months.

Therefore, the Government is working and awaits with great pleasure for the Report of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Dear deputies, we are ready.

I thank the media.