First Yatsenyuk government


The first government headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk was created in Ukraine on 27 February 2014 in the aftermath of the Ukrainian revolution. The cabinet was formed as a coalition of the parties Batkivschyna, UDAR and Svoboda and the parliamentary factions Economic Development and Sovereign European Ukraine and other independent MPs. On 24 July 2014, UDAR and Svoboda and 19 independent MPs had exited from the coalition to pave the way for the early parliamentary elections of late October 2014. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk announced his resignation the same day, but the Verkhovna Rada declined his resignation on 31 July 2014.
After the 26 October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election the Second Yatsenyuk Government was created.

Creation

The Yatsenyuk government followed the anti-government Euromaidan protests that began in 2013, and culminated in the 21 February 2014 dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. The government was first presented at Kiev's main Euromaidan protest camp at Maidan Nezalezhnosti on 26 February 2014. The government was voted on by Verkhovna Rada on 27 February 2014. There were no government posts for the UDAR party led by one of the Euromaidan leaders, Vitali Klitschko. UDAR declined offers to participate in the new government.
On its first day 250 MPs signed up to join the coalition, including the Batkivshchyna, UDAR, Svoboda factions, the Economic Development and Sovereign European Ukraine groups and other MPs.

Parliamentary voting

For the candidacy of the Prime Minister of Ukraine, 371 members of parliament voted for Arseniy Yatsenyuk, only two votes short of the record high 373 votes won by Yulia Tymoshenko in 2005.

Additional decisions

Changes to composition

Offices

On March 1, 2014 Ministry of Revenues and Duties was liquidated. Its agencies were transferred to the Ministry of Finance. On March 23, 2014 the Ministry of Industrial Policy was merged with the Ministry of Economy and Trade.

Ministers

On 19 June 2014 First Vice Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema was appointed General Prosecutor of Ukraine. The same day Pavlo Klimkin was appointed as Ukrainian foreign minister, replacing Andrii Deshchytsia.
On 2 September 2014 the 21 August 2014 resignation of Pavlo Sheremeta as minister of economical development and trade was accepted by the Verkhovna Rada.

July 2014 coalition collapse and PM's failed resignation

On 24 July 2014 the coalition supporting the Yatsenyuk Government collapsed after early the afternoon UDAR and Svoboda announced that they had walked out of the coalition to pave the way for early parliamentary elections. UDAR faction leader Vitaliy Kovalchuk stated his party had done this "Since we see that the Verkhovna Rada is not set for constructive work in accordance with the will of the Ukrainian people". 15 independent deputies and 8 Batkivschyna deputies also quit the coalition. Soon followed by 4 more independent deputies. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation late afternoon on 24 July 2014. During his announcement of resignation in parliament Yatsenyuk hinted that the coalition had collapsed because politicians did not want to be seen involved in making budget cuts and had thus placed "political interest above the fate of the country"; according to him this was "a moral and an ethical crime". Yatsenyuk's resignation has to be officially accepted by parliament and they did not do this the next day; parliaments next change to accept his resignation will be in its next session on 31 July 2014.
UDAR faction leader Vitaliy Kovalchuk stated that since Yatsenyuk had not written a letter of resignation parliament could not accept his resignation; Kovalchuk argued that hence Yatsenyuk was still Prime Minister. Nevertheless, the Yatsenyuk Government appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Regional Policy – Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman as its acting Prime Minister. In the evening of 25 July the press service of parliament stated that parliament had "received the statement of the Prime Minister of Ukraine of his resignation". But his resignation was to be officially accepted by parliament. And the Verkhovna Rada declined his resignation on 31 July 2014 when only 16 MPs voted for his resignation.

Policy

Early August 2014 the Yatsenyuk government introduced a draft tax reform which would reduce the number of taxes and fees from 22 to 9.
The Yatsenyuk government has stated it does not have the intention of making Ukraine a member of NATO.
The government has drawn criticism over the repeal of a law that protected the official use of the Russian language in Ukraine.

Composition

International response

A majority of the west has recognized the government, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Latvia Laimdota Straujuma, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, and Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevičius who on 27 February 2014 congratulated Yatsenyuk on his appointment as interim Prime Minister. The recognition would extend further with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden telling that same day to Yatsenyuk that his interim government had the full support of the United States.
A few days later, the United States Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on 4 March 2014 and met with Yatsenyuk, followed by members of the European Union that met with members of his government prior to the EU summit of 6 March 2014.
Russia, however, denounced the events that led to the previous government's ouster as an illegitimate coup with both the Crimean parliament and the government of Russia considering the Yatsenyuk Government as illegitimate. This disagreement is one of the factors that contributed to the Crimean crisis that took place in the Crimean peninsula in the southeastern region of Ukraine which is predominantly pro-Russian.