While he didn’t say so explicitly in the May 7 interview that I had with ex-Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk, it looks like he only would entertain three positions after President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy takes power: head of the presidential administration, foreign minister, and, if everything works out well in the Oct. 27 parliamentary election, prime minister.
At least that’s the conclusion I drew after talking with him for more than an hour, along with Tetiana Popova, host of Obozrevatel TV’s EuroIntegrators TV program. Popova invited me into the studio for an interview that will air May 18 at 6:30 p.m. It can also be watched on YouTube. Search for “EuroIntegrators: Interviews with Tetiana Popova.”
He said he viewed his old job of finance minister as a second-tier position. “I would like a mandate that allows me to use all my knowledge.” He said “maybe” to the suggestion that head of the presidential administration fits his skills and demands.
He also said that, in order to reinvigorate peace talks to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Zelenskiy will need a strong foreign minister, clearly implying that he would be.
And, finally, he said, he’d like to return to the government because “that’s where the core of action is happening” to change how the nation is ruled. If the finance minister post is too secondary, then one can only conclude that Danylyuk has his sights set on prime minister. It’s a not far-fetched idea for the 43-year-old investor, who already has extensive experience in the private and public sectors – as well as a clearly formulated and strong reform agenda for Ukraine.
Popova, the CEO of Arena Media and host of the Eurointegrators program, conducted her part of the interview in Ukrainian and I did so in English. Here are excerpts of the English-language highlights:
Dissolving parliament
“There is no ultimate goal to call a snap election. There is no goal to dissolve parliament. That institution should work,” Danylyuk said, as long as it does so in the national interest and takes care of working with Zelenskiy to appoint new people to such key posts as a prosecutor general, foreign minister, defense minister and head of the Security Service of Ukraine. Lawmakers must also re-launch the anti-corruption infrastructure and re-do judicial reform, which he says was botched by President Petro Poroshenko. Parliament should restore criminal punishment for illicit enrichment, a law canceled by the Constitution Court of Ukraine, and cancel the requirement for civil activists to file public asset declarations. Championing another long-held idea, he called for the immediate creation of a financial investigative unit to gather evidence in the most serious financial crimes.
New election law
More important than a snap election, he said, is a change in the electoral code to eliminate the current reality in which half of the parliament is elected from individual geographic districts. All lawmakers should be elected from open party lists, he said, otherwise “we will not be able to get a better-quality parliament.” He called majoritarian-district elections “a commercial exercise” in which candidates “buy seats into the parliament that they later swap for some political or business concessions. That’s called corruption.”
Two months maximum
Danylyuk thinks that time is of the essence – that Zelenskiy has two months to “prove himself,” otherwise “to lose the momentum, it’s bad for the country. Every time people have hope and it’s not realized, it’s bad for the morale of the nation.
“It’s the first decisions that need to be well-received. These must be important decisions, not just secondary decisions, like who in the team will be tackling the issues of anti-corruption. It’s very difficult because you’re stepping on somebody’s toes. The first couple of months are crucial. That is understood by his opponents as well. They will try to block these two months.”
Poroshenko comeback?
As he told Zelenskiy during the campaign, “having President Petro Poroshenko for a second term is just bad for the country. After you have blocked reforms for so many years, lied directly to people, it’s really bad to have such a person re-elected. Let him learn some lessons, and maybe, who knows? If he learned the lessons he will come up with new proposals and maybe people will trust him.”
Until then, however, Danylyuk sees no role for Poroshenko in the Zelenskiy administration. “It is absolutely clear that what is required is a new and energetic team with a lot of trust behind. Only based on that criteria it will be difficult for Poroshenko to find a fit.”
His role
Defeating Poroshenko completed the “the first stage” successfully. “The second stage will depend on my role and who will be the team. There are some heated discussions, I can tell you this. I believe in teams. I don’t believe in a collection of individuals who are acting in their own interests. I believe in teams who share the same vision and work towards the same goal – helping each other, not fighting each other. I really hope in this case for Ukraine that we will get the new team that is exactly as I describe – with the same vision and reaching the same goal. If it is not, I will not consider a role in this team. There is no reason for me. I am investing time only when there is an opportunity to have an impact. I already spent enough time in a position fighting with people who were supposed to help me and provide me political cover. I don’t want to repeat it again.”
Mistakes for Zelenskiy to avoid
He actually wants to change many things. He doesn’t always understand how to prioritize it. He still feels the state apparatus is weak and does not have the right priorities. There are a lot of people who are weak or strange people always flying around proposing they can solve problems. The people who will be on the team must be chosen through an independent, professional process.
Another “big mistake” to avoid is not hiring friends or relatives. Every president except Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) made this mistake, Danylyuk said. Ex-President Viktor Yushchenko hired his friends. Yanukovych installed “the family” of relatives and close friends to key positions and Poroshenko brought in his business partners and friends who ended up “running the country in their own interests. This needs to be avoided and cut at all costs.”
Mandate for change
“There’s a big difference when you win an election with 52 percent and you win the election with 73 percent,” as Zelenskiy did. It means he doesn’t need to compromise on what should be done. “People voted for a change of elites and a change of elites needs to happen. That requires breaking links with those who run the country openly or behind the scenes.”
Mayoral fiefdoms
Danylyuk said that he thinks Poroshenko made a foolish mistake in counting on big-city mayors – such as Gennadiy Kernes of Kharkiv, Borys Filatov of Dnipro, and Gennady Trukhanov of Odesa – to deliver voter support in exchange for letting them run the cities like personal fiefdoms.
“I think the mayors understood very well that change is coming,” he said. “Their duty eventually to the cities of the people they represent, not to President Poroshenko. In order for them to influence people’s choice in a statewide election, they need to have a reputation that is so strong that people of his city would listen to it. This is not the case for many of the cities. I think it was foolish. It was too much to expect from these agreements and deals between the incumbent and the mayors. It was time for Poroshenko to leave and in his own interest is to take some time and reflect. If he wants to come back, he will have to offer people something new so that they will trust him, unlike in the past.”
Russia’s threat
“Ukraine has to have a very strong team that will be able to fight with external opponents but also those who will fight with the (EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014) and who are keeping the country hostage with their corrupt activities, keeping Ukraine from development.”
“I don’t want to predict” Russia’s next actions, he said. “We need to be ready for any scenarios. We as Ukraine need to think we’re strong, that we can change the situation around us. That’s an ambition, so we’re not always a target. Weak countries usually lose.”
