Ihor Sorkin has been legitimately appointed to the post of the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), but the Verkhovna Rada should have considered this issue under the complete and not abridged procedure, Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ihor Kaletnik has said.
“The Communist Party believes that the election of the new head of the National Bank of Ukraine was held under an abridged procedure, which is wrong. Whenever the Verkhovna Rada considers the appointments at such a level, the discussion of the candidate and the vote should go all the way through. MPs should have an opportunity to ask a nominee for the National Bank’s governor questions, to hear his detailed program and plans for monetary policy,” the press service quoted Kaletnik, who is a member of the Communist Party, on Saturday.
“Anyway, we can say that the country got the head of the National Bank, who has been legitimately appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The relevant standards and procedure have been met in full,” he said
As reported, on January 11, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Ihor Sorkin governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). A total of 187 members of the Regions Party parliamentary faction, 31 MPs from the Communist Party of Ukraine faction, and 13 independent MPs voted for the appointment. The opposition factions abstained from the vote.
During the voting, several scuffles occurred between members of the Regions Party and the opposition factions. Before the vote, members of the opposition factions came up to the seats of the Regions Party in the parliament to observe the individual voting. After the vote, they said that some of the Regions Party faction MPs voted on behalf of other MPs.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in late December 2012 appointed NBU Governor Serhiy Arbuzov First Vice Premier and on January 9, 2013 the president proposed that the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, appoint Ihor Sorkin as governor of the NBU. Sorkin had been working as acting head of the central bank since late December 2012.
The NBU governor is appointed and dismissed by parliament under a proposal of the Ukrainian president. The NBU head is appointed for seven year.
