The Ukrainian government has decided to abolish the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
This was announced by Taras Melnychuk, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada.
According to the new legislation, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine will be renamed the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources will be liquidated. Their functions will be performed by the newly created joint ministry. It will also become the successor to the property, rights, and obligations of the two liquidated agencies.
By its decision, the government has already created commissions for the liquidation of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and has also approved the Regulations on the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine.
Recall that on the eve of the decision on the “complete reboot” of the Cabinet of Ministers, politicians and the public actively discussed behind-the-scenes information about the creation of a “mega-ministry” consisting of the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Environment. Activists from environmental organizations, scientists, and public figures strongly opposed this decision. They issued a joint statement demanding that the government not liquidate the Ministry of Environment as a separate agency. In it, the activists emphasized that this would be an institutional disaster for the environment, national security, and the state's strategic course toward European integration, and listed the risks that such a decision would entail.
Most experts who have publicly expressed their views on the liquidation of the Ministry of Environment also foresee negative consequences for both the environment and the European integration processes in our country.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada voted to appoint a new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, in which Oleksiy Sobolev was entrusted with the position of Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
