The first government headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk was created in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

on 27 February 2014 in the aftermath of the

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,

. The cabinet was formed as a coalition of the

Batkivschyna The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" ( uk, Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина", translit=Vseukrains'ke obiednannia "Bat'kivshchyna") referred to as Batkivshchyna (), is a political party in Ukraine led by Peo ...

, UDAR and Svoboda political parties, the

Economic Development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

and

Sovereign European Ukraine People's Will ( uk, Воля народу), formerly known as Sovereign European Ukraine ( uk, Соборна європейська Україна), was a centrist, pro-Europe Ukrainian parliamentary faction in its national parliament Verkhovna ...

parliamentary factions, and a number of unaffiliated MPs. On 24 July 2014, UDAR, Svoboda and 19 independent MPs exited the coalition to pave the way for the early

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of late October 2014.Rada speaker announces dissolution of parliamentary coalition

Interfax-Ukraine The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company publishes i ...

(24 July 2014) Prime Minister Yatsenyuk announced his resignation the same day,Ukrainian PM Yatseniuk announces resignation in parliament

(24 July 2014) but the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

declined his resignation on 31 July 2014.Rada expresses confidence in prime minister Yatsenyuk

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden. History American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...

(31 July 2014)
Rada expresses confidence in PM Yatseniuk

(31 July 2014) After the 26 October

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential election in May.second Yatsenyuk government was formed.

Creation

ConsMunich 50th Munich Security Conference 2014 (12252052974)

The Yatsenyuk government took office in the wake of the anti-government Euromaidan protests that began in 2013 and culminated in the 21 February 2014 dismissal of President

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

.Ukraine: Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov named interim president

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

(23 February 2014)
Ukraine protests timeline

(23 February 2014) The government was first presented at

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

's main Euromaidan protest camp at Maidan Nezalezhnosti on 26 February 2014.Ukraine crisis: Yatsenyuk is PM-designate, Kiev Maidan told

(26 February 2014) The government was then voted on by the Verkhovna Rada on 27 February 2014. There were no government posts for the UDAR party, led by one of the

Euromaidan Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhno ...

leaders,

Vitali Klitschko Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of KyivProfile: Ukraine's key protest figures

(27 January 2014) UDAR declined offers to participate in the new government.Who exactly is governing Ukraine?
theguardian.com (4 March 2014) On its first day 250 MPs joined the coalition, including Batkivshchyna, UDAR, Svoboda,

and

Parliamentary voting

371 members of parliament voted to elect Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister of Ukraine, only two votes short of the record-high 373 votes won by Yulia Tymoshenko in 2005.

Additional decisions

Changes in composition

Offices

On 1 March 2014, the Ministry of Revenues and Duties was liquidated. Its agencies were transferred to the Ministry of Finance. On 23 March 2014, the Ministry of Industrial Policy was merged with the Ministry of Economy and Trade.

Ministers

On 19 June 2014, First Vice Prime Minister

Vitaly Yarema Vitaly Hryhorovych Yarema ( uk, Віталій Григорович Ярема, born 14 October 1963) is a Ukrainian politician, law enforcement expert who was General Prosecutor of Ukraine from 19 June 2014 until 10 February 2015.General Prosecutor of Ukraine The prosecutor general of Ukraine (also procurator general of Ukraine, uk, Генеральний прокурор України) heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General ( uk, Офіс ...

. The same day, Pavlo Klimkin was appointed as Ukrainian foreign minister, replacing

Andrii Deshchytsia Andrii Bohdanovych Deshchytsia ( uk, Андрій Богданович Дещиця; born 22 September 1965) is a Ukrainian diplomat and politician. From February to June 2014 Deshchytsia was Acting Foreign minister of Ukraine. Deshchytsia was ...

. On 2 September 2014, the Verkhovna Rada accepted the 21 August 2014 resignation of

Pavlo Sheremeta Pavlo Mykhaylovych Sheremeta ( uk, Павло Михайлович Шеремета) is a Ukrainian economist and a former Minister of Economical Development and Trade of his country.

, until then Minister of Economic Development and Trade.

July 2014 coalition collapse

On 24 July 2014, the coalition supporting the Yatsenyuk government collapsed after UDAR and Svoboda announced that they had left the coalition to pave the way for early

. UDAR faction leader Vitaliy Kovalchuk explained his party's actions with his observation that "the Verkhovna Rada is not set for constructive work in accordance with the will of the Ukrainian people". In addition, 15 independent deputies and eight Batkivschyna deputies also quit the coalition,UDAR, Svoboda quit parliamentary coalition

(24 July 2014) soon followed by four more independent deputies. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation in the late afternoon on 24 July 2014. During his announcement of resignation in parliament Yatsenyuk hinted that the coalition had collapsed because politicians did not want to be seen involved in making budget cuts and had thus placed "political interest above the fate of the country"; according to him, this was "a moral and an ethical crime". Yatsenyuk's resignation had to be officially accepted by the parliament and it did not do this the next day; parliament's next chance to accept his resignation would be at its following session on 31 July 2014.Yatseniuk's statement of resignation sent to parliament - Hroisman

(25 July 2014)
Koshulynsky closes parliament meeting, next one to take place on August 12

(25 July 2014) UDAR faction leader Vitaliy Kovalchuk stated that since Yatsenyuk had not written a letter of resignation ("and in accordance with the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, Yatsenyuk had to file the verbal statement"), parliament could not accept his resignation; Kovalchuk argued that hence Yatsenyuk was still Prime Minister. Nevertheless, (also on 25 June 2014) the Yatsenyuk government appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Regional Policy – Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine

Volodymyr Groysman Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman, sometimes transliterated as Volodymyr Borysovych Hroisman ( uk, Володи́мир Бори́сович Гро́йсман; born 20 January 1978), is a Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukrai ...

as its acting Prime Minister. In the evening of 25 July, the parliamentary press service stated that the body had "received the statement of the Prime Minister of Ukraine of his resignation". The

declined his resignation on 31 July 2014, with only 16 out of 450 MPs voted for his resignation.

Policy

In early August 2014, the Yatsenyuk government introduced draft

tax reform Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxati ...

legislation that would reduce the number of taxes and fees from 22 to 9. The government stated that it did not intend to make Ukraine a member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

.Deschytsia states new government of Ukraine has no intention to join NATO

(29 March 2014) The government drew criticism over the repeal of a law that protected the official use of the Russian language in Ukraine.

Composition

On 12 November 2014, the ministers of Svoboda resigned and became

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

ministers until the formation of a new government.Svoboda party members in Ukrainian government resign – Deputy Premier Sych

(12 November 2014)

International response

A majority of the west recognized the government, including

German Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

Prime Minister of Latvia The prime minister of Latvia ( lv, ministru prezidents) is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obt ...

Laimdota Straujuma,

President of Belarus The president of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Прэзідэнт Рэспублікі Беларусь; russian: Президент Республики Беларусь) is the head of state and head of government of Belarus. The office was ...

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

, and

Prime Minister of Lithuania The prime minister of Lithuania ( lt, Ministras Pirmininkas; "Minister-Chairman") is the head of the government of Lithuania. The prime minister is Lithuania's head of government and is appointed by the president with the assent of the Lithua ...

Algirdas Butkevičius. On 27 February 2014,

U.S. Vice President The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice pr ...

Joe Biden told Yatsenyuk that his interim government had the full support of the United States. A few days later, the United States Secretary of State

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

visited the Ukrainian capital of

on 4 March 2014 and met with Yatsenyuk. He was followed by members of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

, who met with members of his government prior to a

EU summit This is a list of meetings of the European Council (informally referred to as EU summits); the meetings of the European Council, an institution of the European Union (EU) comprising heads of state or government of EU member states. They started ...

on 6 March 2014.US imposes visa restrictions on Russian officials as Obama signs sanctions order
theguardian.com (6 March 2014) Russia, however, denounced the events that led to the previous government's ouster as an illegitimate coup and considered the Yatsenyuk government illegitimate.

Notes

References

External links

Governmental Portal of Ukraine
– official site of the Cabinet of Ministers {{2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine 2014 establishments in Ukraine Cabinets established in 2014 Ukrainian governments Euromaidan Yatsenyuk 2014 disestablishments in Ukraine Cabinets disestablished in 2014