Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

President Viktor Yanukovych has called for optimization of the expenditures on maintenance of government agencies.

Yanukovych made the call at a meeting with representatives of trade unions and professional associations.

«I know very well that there is no country in the world with 20 deputy ministers in ministries. I know that there is no country in the world where every lousy bureaucrat uses a chauffeur-driven government car,» Yanukovych said while commenting on his decision to reduce the number of employees of the Presidential Administration by 20% and reduce his own salary.

He stressed that this was not just a fashionable thing and that he was demanding that all government officials look at their agencies to determine how they could enforce order without sacrificing efficiency in the operations of the agencies.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Party of the Regions said in February that it intended to reduce the size of the government if it participated in formation of a new Cabinet of Ministers.