Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front has figured out how to combine lawmaking and motherhood. She wakes up at 6 a.m. to spend time with her 6-month-old son, then they go to the pool together and between 9 and 10 a.m. she is at the session hall of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada.
Even though her daily routine changed much since she became a member of the parliament, 31-year-old Katser-Buchkovska is certain that every challenge could be turned into opportunity.
“You need to pursue the kind of work where you can be best,” Katser-Buchkovska smiles.
She arrived early for the interview on a recent day in February, dressed in an elegant trouser suit. She opens her red book to reveal a busy schedule. She says she’s really struggling to find balance between her job and her family. Originally, her husband was not sure it was a good idea to move to politics.
“Our son was two months old when the parliament started its work,” Katser-Buchkovska explains. “However, there is a rule in my family that we should help each other. Actually, I imagined myself as a lawmaker since my childhood. I always wanted to fight for justice and I saw how difficult it was to run business, for example.” She wanted to help.
Katser-Buchkovska has a law degree from the Lviv National University. “I made it to Lviv National University only after my third attempt. When I showed up the third time with my (application) documents, one professor said that I was very persistent and deserved to study there,” she recalls.
After graduating, Katser-Buchkovska started working in business, but felt she critically lacked Western education. She went on to complete an MA in law and economy from University College in London in 2011, backed up by Worldwide Studies, a program set up by billionaire Viktor Pinchuk to enable young Ukrainians to study abroad.
She had it tough in London, she says, but it was a turning point in her career. She found it next to impossible to work for Ukrainian companies after that because they did not share her ideas and approaches. Katser-Buchkovska ended up starting her own investment consultancy business just months before the EuroMaidan Revolution started, called KCG Investment Consulting. It had another partner, and focused on alternative energy sources, sustainable development and IT startups.
“Many of my friends then tried to dissuade me from doing business in Ukraine,” Katser-Buchkovska says. “But I did and eventually it turned out to be one of the most difficult, but effective years in my life.”
Thanks to her business, she was noticed by the newly appointed Cabinet of Ministers in the spring and was invited to become a non-staff consultant. Then, in September Katser-Buchkovska received an offer from Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party to join their election campaign. The party was partially motivated by the fact that she was a participant of a group of young Western-educated Ukrainians who sought a more active role in the nation’s governance.
“I didn’t believe that it (the party’s offer) would work,” Katser-Buchkovska explains. “However, they called me back a day before the party congress and told me that I has a place on the party ticket. It sounded like fiction.”
It got even better after the election. Katser-Buchkovska now heads the parliament’s sub-committee on sustainable development, strategy and investments in parliament. It has prepared a draft bill on energy efficiency of buildings, one of the key requirements for the European Energy Community that Ukraine has failed to adopt so far.
As Ukraine joined the community in 2011 and now tries to follow the EU path, energy efficient policies become crucial for the country.
“So far Ukraine is the world’s least energy efficient economy,” Katser-Buchkovska says. “But the country has great potential.” She also said her sub-committee has prepared a number of draft bills that include amendments on the competitive conditions of electricity production from alternative energy sources.
She believes that at least one positive result of Russia’s war against Ukraine is that it would likely boost energy reform and as a result may weaken energy dependence on Russia. Katser-Buchkovska also hopes to create a think-tank with a focus on green energy issues.
After three months of parliamentary work, Katser-Buchkovska remains optimistic about the longer-term prospects of reform, unlike some of her colleagues.
“If the lawmakers are frustrated they could give up their mandates,” Katser-Buchkovska told the Kyiv Post. “We have no such plans. Despite the economic situation and war, Ukraine has much more support from Western democracies now so we need to work because people wait for our result.”
In early February, a number of former journalists and civic activists-turned-politicians set up a group called “Euro optimists.” Katser-Buchkovska is one of its members, along with her colleagues from Petro Poroshenko Bloc – Mustafa Nayyem and Svitlana Zalishchuk, Yehor Sobolev from Samopomich Party and some 20 other lawmakers.
“We aim to work on constitutional reform, implementation of the Ukraine-EU association agreement and information war – these are the key elements we should focus on,” Katser-Buchkovska explains. She is certain the parliament itself is much more active now than it used to be, but still lacks experts who would help to focus on critical issues such as attracting investors’ attention to Ukraine.
Katser-Buchkovska says she is often involved in negotiations with donors and says it’s critical to boost their interest in the country. She also works with European Commission on implementation of the provisions of the Third Energy Package, which includes decoupling gas production, transportation and sale to prevent gas suppliers from dominating the infrastructure.
She also says that the parliament has to start work on reversing ineffective laws.
In the meantime, she has not given up on studying. Even though she lacks free time, she subscribed to a number of classes on Coursera, an online studies project that offers free access to courses by world’s most respected universities.
“It’s something you should do all the time,” Katser-Buchkovska says. “Now I’m learning about communication strategies and how different economies work.”
