The current crisis in the Ukrainian politics is, first of all, a crisis of no confidence. People have lost confidence in the ability of political institutions, the integrity of the leading politicians and parties, the capacity of governmental institutions and their leadership to carry out reforms in the direction determined and proclaimed by the Revolution of Dignity. Politicians, in their turn, do not trust each other and the society as a whole and no longer rely on the citizens’s conscious support. This makes government institutions unable to consistently and purposefully lead the country through the way of the European reforms.
The Ukrainian state, having received the chance for rapid development as a result of the Maidan, today is under an even greater threat. Only rapid changes aimed at restoring the confidence and speeding up the basic reforms can save the country.
We, a group of civil society experts, who, together with the government representatives and international partners, take part in the ongoing development, promotion and monitoring the of implementation of the key systemic reforms, believe it necessary to urge the government to take steps to overcome the political crisis and accelerate the reforms.
Namely:
1. Purification of the government and the creation of professional technical government under the new rules
State power bodies, first of all, the highest bodies, shall be immediately purified from individuals with obvious conflicts of interests (i.e. persons that combine public offices with private business), as well as individuals with tarnished reputation, who lost public confidence.
It is necessary to form a new Cabinet of Ministers on the basis of a technical government. This means that the position of the Prime Minister shall be filled by a non-partisan top manager enjoying high personal reputation, who did not hold high-level public offices in Ukraine before 2014.
The prime minister shall form a new Cabinet of Ministers consisting of individuals capable of promptly setting up new units in each ministry, able to perform policy analysis, forecast and address challenges, develop and implement systemic reforms. The principle of representation of political forces shall not be applied to the formation of the technical Cabinet of Ministers.
The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine shall give the vote of confidence to the new government by at least 226 votes, trusting the new government on the whole and, above all, the Prime Minister, and providing them with due support to develop, support and monitor the reforms jointly with the civil society.
2. Implementation of the civil service reform and the reform of the government
Together with the appointment of the new government it is necessary to make changes to the laws on central executive power bodies and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the basis of the draft bill No. 2354a. In particular, the following changes shall be made:
Deputy ministers shall be appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers following the proposals by Ministers (and not the prime minister, as it is now).
The position of the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers shall be abolished, and the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers shall be reduced only to units that serve the meetings of the government and government committees.
Policy analysis, development of public policies of reforms and governance based on openness and participation of relevant representatives of areas affected by those policies, shall be a key priority in the activity of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Speeding up the entry into force of the Law on Public Service, with the key attention given, first of all, to the introduction of the institution of State Secretaries as professional and politically neutral chiefs of staff of the Ministries.
Ensuring a clear division of functions between the Cabinet of Ministers and the Administration of the President of Ukraine. It is necessary to guarantee non-interference of external officials and politicians with the activity of the government and the ministries, central and local executive bodies, other than in a way envisaged by the law.
Ensuring fair and adequate salaries at all levels of public administration, including by means of the optimization of functions and, therefore, the number of civil servants, and the use of the freed resources for building up the payroll fund. For this purpose, and given the currently limited resources available from the state budget, an independent, transparent, and properly controlled Fund should be created to accumulate the financial assistance from international and Ukrainian donors
3. Establishing efficient communication between the government and the society
An efficient system of communication between the government and citizens shall be established in order to include citizens in the process of development and implementation of public policies in order to overcome the existing estrangement between the government and the society.
4. Implementation of a new election law
A new parliamentary election law, in line with the provisions of the current coalition agreement. In particular, the majoritarian component and the closed party lists shall be eliminated as the most favorable for political corruption.
Only if the above conditions are fulfilled we are ready to continue to cooperate with the authorities to the extent possible in implementing the reforms, and to regard the current government as our trustworthy ally and a reliable partner. In case of other developments we will inform the society and international partners about challenges that call into question our confidence in the political elites.
For the consistent pursuit of the reforms, there are only two ways out of the political crisis: the purification of the government and forming a technical, professional government, or the early elections, probably not only the parliamentary, but also the presidential ones.
We call upon all active forces of the civil society to join this statement and actions that will help overcome the crisis of confidence in Ukraine.
This statement is open for endorsement and distribution.
Ihor Burakovsky – The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consultation
Yevhen Bystrytsky – International Renaissance Foundation
Vasyl Filipchuk – International Center for Policy Studies
Mykola Haidai – Easy Business
Yevhen Hlibovytsky – pro.mova
Volodymyr Horbach – Institute for Euro-Atlantic cooperation
Taras Kachka – business ombudsman of State Fiscal Service of Ukraine
Ihor Koliushko – Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, Reanimation Package of Reforms
Roman Kuybida – Centre of Policy and Legal Reform
Volodymyr Kurpita – Public Health SAG
Artem Myrgorodsky – Reanimation Package of Reforms
Myjhailo Obolonsky – Easy Business
Dan Pasko – Easy Business
Olena Pavlenko – DiXi Group
Ihor Semyvolos – Association of Middle East Studies
Taras Shevchenko – Media Law Institute
Oleksandr Sushko – International Renaissance Foundation
Viktor Tymoshchuk – Centre of Policy and Legal Reform
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn – Reanimation Package of Reforms
