Yushchenko Appoints New Justice Minister to Improve Europe Connection

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko appointed Serhiy Holovatiy, a prominent lawmaker and chairman of the legal committee at the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, as the justice minister on Thursday.

New Minister of Justice Serhiy Holovatiy
Holovatiy, who has already served on the post between 1995 and 1997, replaces Roman Zvarych following a government reshuffle on Sept. 8.

The appointment suggests Yushchenko is determined to accelerate the process of adjusting Ukraine’s legal norms and regulations closer to those of the European Union.

“Holovatiy is well known in the Council of Europe. He has a lot of connections there,” Volodymyr Fesenko, the head of Penta, a Kiev-based political consultancy, said.

Holovatiy is currently in Strasbourg joining a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He is expected to be back in Ukraine by the end of the week.

Holovatiy was a member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc in Parliament until two weeks ago, when he had been expelled for backing Yuriy Yekhanurov, Yushchenko’s choice, as the prime minister. Tymoshenko, unhappy about her dismissal, worked hard to derail the appointment of the new prime minister.

Yushchenko dismissed Tymoshenko Sept. 8 amid a sharp political crisis that had been triggered by allegations of corruption within the government team.

Zvarych, who was born in the U.S. and later accepted the Ukrainian citizenship, was backed by Yushchenko persistently despite being involved in several scandals, including a controversy over his university background.

But Zvarych recently said he was proud working in the Tymoshenko government, which may have forced Yushchenko to replace him with a more loyal figure.

Source: Ukrainian Journal