page_title: Arseniy Yatsenyuk
section_title: Political positions
hierarchical_section_title: Arseniy Yatsenyuk / Political positions
caption_attribution_description: English: Yatsenyuk, Cabinet of Ministers Blockage
context_page_description: Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk is a Ukrainian politician, economist and lawyer who served Prime Minister of Ukraine from 27 February 2014 to 14 April 2016.
  Yatsenyuk's first government post was as Minister of Economy from 2005 to 2006; subsequently he was Foreign Minister of Ukraine in 2007 and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada from 2007 to 2008. Yatsenyuk was one of the leaders of Ukraine's second biggest party All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", and former leader of its parliamentary faction. He became the Prime Minister of Ukraine following the 2014 revolution that removed Viktor Yanukovych from power. In September 2014, Yatsenyuk started the new party People's Front. On 16 February 2016, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, asked Yatsenyuk to resign saying he had lost the support of the coalition and the same day, the Ukrainian parliament voted the cabinet's work unsatisfactory but rejected a call for a vote of no confidence. On 10 April 2016, Yatsenyuk announced that he would report to parliament on 12 April and resign as Prime Minister. On 14 April 2016, Yatsenyuk was replaced by new Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
context_section_description: Yatsenyuk does not want Russian to become the second state language in Ukraine.
  Yatsenyuk wants European Union membership for Ukraine. and he sees this "because this means standards and values – a [high] level of education, medical treatment, pensions, employment, freedoms, new technologies, and progress". Yatsenyuk stated late 2009 that in its relations with the European Union, Ukraine should have a visa-free regime with EU countries. Yatsenyuk stated on 20 April 2012 that it was clear to him that the European Union will not sign the association agreement "until fully fledged democracy is resumed in Ukraine, free and fair elections are held, and the political persecution of opponents is stopped in Ukraine".
  Yatsenyuk is against Ukraine joining the Eurasian Customs Union; according to him "Ukraine's joining the Customs Union means the restoration of the Soviet Union in a slightly different form and with a different name. But this means that the country will become a part of the Russian empire. We know history. We have been there and we don't want to return there". On 21 August 2013, Yatsenyuk stated "Russia has decided for some reason that it can be the architect of a new Berlin wall. And, according to Russia’s design, this wall should appear at the border between Ukraine and the European Union".
  Yatsenyuk was against the April 21, 2010 agreement in which the Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea would be extended beyond 2017 by 25 years with an additional five-year renewal option (to 2042–47) in exchange for a multiyear discounted contract to provide Ukraine with Russian natural gas. Yatsenyuk favours the creation of a special "vice prime minister for Crimean issues".
  In November 2009, Yatsenyuk stated that Ukraine's shadow economy "is a part of the current political system in Ukraine and that's why taking business out of the shadows will only be possible via a change in this system". In November 2009 he saw as his most difficult task if elected President "to break the political clan system that has been built up over the last 18 years". Yatsenyuk wants to create a common energy company with European Union countries and Russia.
  According to Yatsenyuk, it will be impossible to fight corruption without changing the country's system of government, "The system of government in Ukraine has in fact remained the same as it was under the Soviet Union".
  In late July 2010, Yatsenyuk wrote a draft law which proposed to fine officials for violating the law "On Appeals by Citizens", thus holding officials personally accountable for ignoring the complaints of citizens.
  In November 2009, he proposed that a referendum be held on if Ukraine should have an open list voting system. Yatsenyuk is in favour of holding referenda; he calls this "nationalization of state power". The amendment of the terms and conditions of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's presence in Ukraine and a decision on Ukraine's membership of NATO and other military alliances are according to Yatsenyuk only possible through a referendum.
  In January 2015, Yatseniuk appeared on the German television channel ARD for an interview with Pinar Atalay. The interview's live translation contained a controversial statement that was immediately picked up by Russian media and later spread to other media outlets. The statement typically featured was a variation of "All of us still clearly remember the Soviet Union invading Ukraine and Germany. And nobody has the right to rewrite the results of the Second World War. And that is exactly what Russia’s President Putin is trying to do." Implying that Yatsenyuk said that it was the USSR who started the war against Germany and not the other way around, this later turned out to be a misrepresentation meant to further the Russian political objectives in Ukraine. The actual statement by Yatsenyuk was "Russian aggression against Ukraine is an encroachment on the world order. We all remember well the Soviet invasion both in Ukraine, including, and in Germany. It must be avoided. Nobody is allowed to rewrite the results of the Second World War.
caption: Euromaidan: the blockade of the Government of Ukraine, December 2013
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