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Unless President Volodymyr Zelensky finds another 40 votes in parliament, Yuriy Vitrenko will be finished as acting energy minister on Jan. 21 exactly one month after he started, the new legal limit imposed to prevent “permanent” acting ministers who serve for years.
As it is, acting ministers have no clout. They can legally give no orders nor make appointments. And, counting the winter holidays and a 17-day COVID-19 lockdown ending Jan. 25, most of Vitrenko’s acting tenure will have been spent while Ukrainians were celebrating or staying home to curb the coronavirus. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, meanwhile won’t meet until Jan. 26.