Over the 12 years since the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine has come a long way in strengthening its institutions. This is particularly true when it comes to the National Bank, the EU’s representative in Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová, said in response to a question from an RBC-Ukraine journalist at the event “Beyond the Headlines. Assessing Ukraine’s Progress as an EU Candidate Country”, held at European HUB.
The NBU’s independence is one of the key pillars of Ukrainian sovereignty — not only monetary sovereignty, but sovereignty more broadly, she believes.
“The independence of the National Bank is extremely important, primarily for financial stability. And what is incredible is that over these five years of brutal aggression there has not been a single moment of financial instability,” Katarína Mathernová noted.
She believes the finance minister and the NBU governor have done an enormous amount of work.
“We stay in touch with both. The EU is the largest donor and partner, and we also work very closely with the NBU governor on the regulator’s challenges in the financial system. We are doing a lot of work on bringing the economy out of the shadows,” she said.
Mathernová believes the law on the NBU is clear on the grounds for dismissing its governor. The EU representative stressed that the rule of law is a key requirement for EU membership.
Context
On 3 November, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported that the agenda circulated to lawmakers included consideration of Andrii Pyshnyi’s resignation. He noted that personnel matters are usually placed first, whereas this item was at the end. In his view, this demonstrates uncertainty around the issue.
The next day Andrii Pyshnyi said he had not submitted any resignation letters and did not plan to do so “under pressure”. Pyshnyi recalled that, under the law, the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine serves a seven-year term, and there is an exhaustive list of grounds for early dismissal. He believes that now, as the issue of his resignation has once again appeared in the public domain “against the backdrop of prolonged political pressure, manipulation, a targeted and coordinated discrediting campaign, what is being tested is not someone’s readiness to leave office, but the real effectiveness of protective mechanisms and safeguards, and the state’s ability to adhere to the rules set out in law”.
Information about the possible dismissal of NBU Governor Andrii Pyshnyi has surfaced for the second time this year, even though the end of his term is still a long way off: he was appointed in October 2022. This is happening against the backdrop of an investigation into the role of the state-owned Sense Bank in a corruption scheme involving the posting of bail for former minister Herman Halushchenko.
Pyshnyi denies influencing the appointment of supervisory board adviser Vasyl Veselyi. Ukrainska Pravda wrote that Veselyi and one of the suspects, Oleksandr Tsukerman, discussed candidates for Sense Bank’s supervisory board. The process of appointing the supervisory board should be independent.