The spectre of "rotavirus" and financial blackmail: why parliamentary sabotage is jeopardising IMF tranches

The spectre of "rotavirus" and financial blackmail: why parliamentary sabotage is jeopardising IMF tranches

The Ukrainian parliament has entered a phase of open confrontation between the legislative branch and the anti-corruption vertical.

As journalist Tetyana Nikolaenko notes in her investigation for «Censor.NET», the once-monolithic pro-presidential majority has today turned into a platform for political blackmail. The main currency in the corridors of the Verkhovna Rada has become not ideological convictions, but the immunity of deputies, who are increasingly becoming figures in NABU and SAPO investigations.

The situation has reached the point where people’s representatives are essentially issuing an ultimatum: either law enforcement reduces its activity, or key reforms for the country will be left without votes.

The crisis of parliament’s manageability became obvious during the latest February sessions. Instead of working in the session hall, deputies massively «fell ill»: immediately 38 representatives of the mono-majority suddenly came down with a mysterious rotavirus just on the days of strategically important votes.

Opposition representatives and political observers are confident that this was not an epidemic, but a form of strike. When there are barely 200 deputies present in the hall, and visually during the «government question hour» one can count only about half a hundred faces, it becomes clear that the work of the highest legislative body is paralyzed by internal fear of anti-corruption agencies.

The frankness of some «Servant of the People» representatives shocks. MP Olha Smahlyuk essentially confirmed that irritation prevails within the faction due to what they consider excessive publicity of investigations. Currently, 41 deputies are figures in proceedings, creating an atmosphere of «total hard mode» around MPs.

Instead of proving their innocence in courts, some elected officials have decided to use their only advantage — the right to press the button. They demand that the government communicate with international partners about the «inability» of the Rada to vote, trying to force the West to turn a blind eye to internal corruption in exchange for passing laws from the Ukraine Facility plan.

Parliamentary sabotage has already begun to hit Ukraine’s international obligations. Votes disappear precisely on those initiatives demanded by the IMF: taxation of digital platforms, VAT reform for individual entrepreneurs, and fixing the military levy.

It has come to the point that the IMF was forced to soften its demands so that Ukraine could receive a tranche of 1.5 billion dollars. Deputies are deliberately shifting the emphasis, claiming that NABU incriminates them for voting for «neutral» laws (for example, appeals to the UN) as part of schemes of illegal enrichment, although in reality it concerns systemic payment for loyalty, recorded in anti-corruption agencies’ recordings.

"In working with the IMF, we agreed to raise the threshold for VAT implementation for individual entrepreneurs to 4 million UAH (equivalent to about 85,000 euros) – this is the maximum active VAT level on goods in Europe. Thus, these changes will not affect two-thirds of all individual entrepreneurs," – Yuliya Svyrydenko said earlier.

But it’s not a fact that deputies will give votes even for these demands.

The end of the era of monolithicity and the ghost of «MindichGate»

The deep reasons for the paralysis of the Verkhovna Rada lie not only in the recent suspicions against Yuliya Tymoshenko or the Kysiel group. MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak points out that problems with votes started long before NABU’s activation — back in the times of the so-called «MindichGate». The coalition stopped considering the government «its own» and sees no sense in covering up its miscalculations, especially when it has to pay for it with detectives’ attention.

The status quo, where Arahamia collected votes «under lock and key», is gone, and the new format of «unity government» so far looks like an unfeasible fantasy due to personal conflicts between key political players.

Smahlyuk

An interesting nuance is how the government and anti-corruption agencies are now shifting responsibility to each other. According to Smahlyuk, to NABU’s requests for new powers and staff in the government, they ironically reply: «You’re now responsible for collecting votes in the Rada, you know better».

This ping-pong of responsibility is happening against the backdrop of the real throughput capacity of the parliament dropping to 7-8 technical laws per day. Any serious reform risks failing if it is not accompanied by safety guarantees for «button-pushers».

Despite this chaos, some important laws still pass through the hall, but with enormous efforts and only on the second-third attempt. This was the case with the ratification of the agreement with the Polish bank BGK and payments to families of fallen warriors. However, these exceptions only underline the rule: there is no stable majority.

The hall is dominated by «everyone’s in the house» sentiments, and faction leaders are more immersed in peace negotiations or their own affairs than in disciplining deputies. The parliament has effectively turned into an organ operating in «minimum life support» mode, where every button has its price, expressed in silence from NABU.

The end of spring, which some optimists in the Rada hope for, is unlikely to bring an improvement in mood without systemic changes. If the government is not rebooted, and deputies do not receive a clear signal that blackmail doesn’t work, Ukraine risks finding itself in a situation where international aid stops due to the parliament’s inability to meet donors’ technical requirements.

Tetyana Nikolayenko’s article leads to a disheartening conclusion: in defending themselves from justice, some people’s representatives are ready to put the financial stability of the entire state at risk, turning the Verkhovna Rada into a hostage of its own criminal proceedings.

Source: «Argument»