By KYIV. May 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – At a meeting on Friday, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a bill on the merger of JSC Mahistralni Gazoprovody Ukrainy (MGU) and Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU), Taras Melnychuk, the government representative in the Verkhovna Rada, said on his Telegram channel.
According to him, the bill “On measures for the corporate reform of the operator of the gas transmission system of Ukraine” is aimed at eliminating the complex system of managing enterprises of the gas transmission system of Ukraine, taking into account the OECD guidelines on corporate governance of state-owned enterprises.
In turn, the Ministry of Energy said the bill “offers a new model: the Ministry of Energy is the GTS Operator (with an independent supervisory board and a collegial executive body)”.
The former head of GTSOU Serhiy Makogon believes the proposed decision does not fulfill Ukraine’s commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“As for the Supervisory Board, the current supervisory board of MGU remains in the GTSOU, but it works until October 31 – a new Supervisory Board should be elected by this date. Unfortunately, this is again a profanity, not a reform. This bill does not fulfill commitments to the IMF at all. It clearly states that GTSOU should be transferred under the Ministry of Energy and a new charter of GTSOU should be adopted, which provides for an independent supervisory board in GTSOU itself,” he said.
“With this bill, the Ministry of Energy simply bypasses the requirements for a transparent, competitive selection of members of the independent supervisory board of GTSOU and with the hands of the government and MPs moves the right people into the right seats. That is, this accession will drag on for years, and the current composition of the supervisory board of MGU will sit in GTSOU without competition yet for at least three years,” Makogon added.
