Procedure to dismiss Energy Minister Halushchenko initiated in Ukrainian parliament

Inna Sovsun, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament's Energy Committee, has put forward a resolution aimed at the removal of Herman Halushchenko as Ukraine's Energy Minister. She is backed by members of Parliament from various factions.

Source: MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, Deputy Chair of the Tax Committee of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) 

Quote: "My colleague, Energy Committee member Inna Sovsun, together with MPs from various factions, is initiating the registration of a resolution to dismiss the Energy Minister."

Details: Among the reasons for the move, Zhelezniak named "systemic corruption in the energy sector", "failure to protect part of the energy infrastructure", "lies and manipulations", and more.

Zhelezniak also mentioned Halushchenko’s unacceptable behaviour during a government Q&A session held on 10 January in the Verkhovna Rada.

Sovsun, an MP from the Holos (Voice) faction, said the Energy Committee had received a letter from European Commission and US Embassy representatives expressing concern about reports in the media claiming that they support a project to build additional units at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

Herman Halushchenko’s response was greeted with outrage. He said, "Actually this is the case, and if we are talking about Units 3 and 4, there is a provision in the text of the law that says these units will run on American fuel. As regards the opinion of mid-level clerks in the European Commission's representation, Inna, I am extremely sorry that you are running around embassies slandering our energy sector and our country."

The Ministry of Energy later issued a statement saying that the transcript of the Verkhovna Rada session "clearly records that the minister's remark does not refer to the words of the EU Ambassador to Ukraine".

"Unfortunately the issue of constructing additional units at the Khmelnytskyi NPP has become a subject of manipulation, including by some members of the Verkhovna Rada and experts. Specifically, private correspondence from mid-level diplomats who were not authorised to express the official position of the EU or member states has been used in public discussions. This was the correspondence the minister was referring to in his report," the statement said.

Zhelezniak urged his fellow MPs to back the resolution calling for Halushchenko’s dismissal.

Background: As of 10 January, 69 substations belonging to Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state grid operator, have been provided with second-level protection, and work is underway on 13 more. 

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