Energoatom's top manager, Halushchenko, has been tapped to head Ukraine's Energy Ministry / slovoidilo.ua
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has voted in favor of Herman Halushchenko to appoint him as Energy Minister.
His appointment was backed by 305 lawmakers.
Read alsoCabinet sacks Naftogaz chief Kobolyev
Halushchenko's appointment: What is known
The day before, on April 28, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Utilities Services supported Halushchenko's candidacy for the energy minister's post.
The motion to appoint Halushchenko was tabled in parliament by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Previous developments
- Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada twice turned down the candidacy of Yuriy Vitrenko, a former top manager of Naftogaz of Ukraine, for first deputy prime minister and minister of energy of Ukraine. Since the end of December 2020, Vitrenko has been acting energy minister.
- At a meeting of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction on April 22, 2021, lawmakers had a Q&A session with Halushchenko. The party's press service reported the faction was planning to collect signatures in support of holding a special parliamentary event to meet Halushchenko. Voting on his appointment was to be included in the parliament's agenda, it said.
- On April 26, 2021, Chairman of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia announced that the President's Office had proposed considering Halushchenko's candidacy for the energy minister's post.
- The post had remained vacant since May 2020.
Halushchenko's biography
- Halushchenko, born in Lviv on May 1, 1973, a lawyer, a graduate of Lviv University, has been working as vice-president at state-run nuclear giant Enegoatom since May 2020.
- According to the BBC's Ukrainian bureau, he started his career in the Lviv prosecutor's office. He later worked at the Foreign Ministry, was Ukraine's representative at the Council of Europe's anti-corruption body, and held various positions in the Presidential Administration, both during Leonid Kuchma's and Viktor Yushchenko's presidency.