Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has defined the areas of responsibility for Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Vsevolod Chentsov.
Under Resolution No. 984 dated July 29, Chentsov’s portfolio covers foreign relations; the conduct of the state’s foreign policy activity; and Ukraine’s foreign policy course aimed at developing political, economic, humanitarian, legal, scientific and other ties with foreign states and international organizations, as well as analysis of related trends. His duties also include using diplomatic means to protect and strengthen Ukraine’s independence, state sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and the inviolability of its state border, and to protect national interests.
The deputy prime minister will also coordinate the work of central executive bodies and other state authorities in his assigned areas; coordinate the work of deputy heads of central executive bodies responsible for EU and NATO matters; and approve candidates for deputy minister posts responsible for European integration.
His portfolio also covers the implementation of a unified state policy on equal rights and opportunities for women and men in all spheres of public life, as well as coordinating central executive bodies on equal rights and opportunities and on preventing domestic violence.
Chentsov will also direct executive bodies in preparing materials for meetings of parliamentary committees, the government and the National Security and Defense Council; organize the work of central executive bodies in shaping Ukraine’s position within Council of Europe bodies; organize and coordinate the effective use of international technical assistance; coordinate assessments of the effectiveness of Ukraine’s European integration policy and of executive bodies’ work toward EU membership; and coordinate the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law (the EU acquis) and NATO standards.
His responsibilities further include coordinating the training system for civil servants in European and Euro-Atlantic integration; engaging with experts and civil society organizations in this field; coordinating public information and communication strategies and programs on European and Euro-Atlantic integration; and coordinating the planning, monitoring and evaluation of related tasks.
The deputy prime minister will also help develop the legal framework for Ukraine’s cooperation with the international community, work on developing Ukraine’s diplomatic service and ties with Ukrainians abroad, and coordinate executive bodies’ cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Chentsov’s competence also covers economic and social development, trade, state investment policy and state foreign economic policy, as well as technical regulation, standardization, metrology; business development; public-private partnership; public procurement; the state material reserve; state export control; consumer rights protection; state price control policy; advertising activity in Ukraine; exhibition and fair activity; state regulatory policy; oversight, licensing and permitting in business activity; deregulation of business activity; and state agrarian policy and food security.
His portfolio also includes plant variety protection; animal husbandry; fisheries and the fishing industry; the protection, use and restoration of aquatic bioresources; fishing regulation and shipping safety for the fishing fleet; land reclamation; forestry and hunting. The deputy prime minister will oversee veterinary medicine, food safety, plant quarantine and protection; seed production and nursery farming; land relations regulation and land reform; topographic-geodetic and cartographic activity; and soil monitoring and fertility on agricultural land.
Chentsov’s competence covers privatization, lease, use and disposal of state property, management of state-owned assets, state regulation of property valuation and professional valuation activity; coordinating state bodies on investor rights protection and countering illegal takeovers of enterprises and violations of land legislation; water management development and the use and restoration of surface water resources; epidemiological surveillance; sanitary and epidemic welfare of the population; and coordinating the Ukrainian side of intergovernmental councils, committees and joint commissions.
His duties also include coordinating the formulation and implementation of state sanctions policy and coordinating state policy on humanitarian demining.
The deputy prime minister will also handle local self-government development, territorial governance organization and administrative-territorial structure; building an optimal institutional system for regional development and capable territorial communities; and coordinating executive bodies’ work with parliamentary committees, local state administrations, local self-government bodies and associations, and other public organizations on regional and local development.
Chentsov will also oversee municipal improvement; housing and utilities; household waste management; construction, architecture, urban planning and architectural-construction oversight; housing policy and housing and utilities reform; drinking water supply and sewage; heating system modernization; transport infrastructure development and operation; and the restoration, development, construction, reconstruction and modernization of socioeconomic, housing and utilities, public, engineering-transport, energy and investment infrastructure.
His portfolio also covers the restoration of industrial, social and transport infrastructure, housing stock and life-support systems in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories after their reintegration into the country’s unified constitutional space, as well as industrial development there after reintegration.
He will also approve candidates for deputy minister posts and deputy heads of regional state administrations responsible for the restoration of regions, territories and infrastructure, and coordinate their work, along with other matters in related areas.
The government also determined that if the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration is absent, his powers will be exercised by First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal.
As previously reported, parliament appointed Naftogaz CEO Serhiy Koretsky as prime minister on July 16 and, on his recommendation, approved the new composition of the Cabinet of Ministers.
