Anniversaire du début de #Maïdan : signature de l’accord de coalition
Pro-Western parties sign historic coalition agreement
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/pro-western-parties-sign-historic-coalition-agreement-372667.html
One year after the start of the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 21, five political parties elected on Oct. 26 to Ukraine’s parliament have signed a coalition agreement bringing the country closer to the West and committing it to pursuing European Union integration and NATO membership.
Five of the six parties parties elected to the Rada in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election joined the broad coalition, including the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko, the People’s Front led by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Samopomich (Self-Help) party, Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party and Batkivshchyna led by ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Only two of the parties, Batkivshcyhna and the Radical Party, existed a year ago.
Yulia Tymoshenko, Oleh Lyashko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Volodymyr Groysman signed the coalition agreement on Nov. 21, the one year anniversary of the start of the EuroMaidan protests.
© batkivshchyna.com.ua
“An obvious question is why, given the huge pressures being felt now on Ukraine, did it take reform politicians more than one month after parliamentary elections to forge this coalition,” said Timothy Ash, head of emerging market research for Standard Bank in London.
In the coming weeks one of the main tests for the new parliament is whether it can resist the backdoor deals and political horse trading that have defined previous Ukrainian parliaments.