You're reading: Three years of Poroshenko: Visa-free regime – yes, reforms – not enough

Three years after Petro Poroshenko won the early presidential election in Ukraine on May 25, 2014, he can take credit for fulfilling several promises: obtaining for Ukrainians visa-free travel with European Union, the signing of the Ukraine-EU Association agreement, and an increase in the state’s defense capability.

However, that’s far from what he could have achieved.

Experts are raising concerns over Poroshenko’s confrontations with civil activists, and accuse Poroshenko of dragging his feet on the most crucial reforms, such as electoral and judicial reform, as well as appointing allies to key positions.

Bragging rights

According to the annual expert poll conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation think tank among 65 political analysts, Poroshenko’s most successful area was foreign policy: apart from scrapping visa barriers to European Union countries for Ukrainians from June 11, the European Union has also prolonged sanctions against Russia and maintained the albeit shaky “anti-Russian coalition.”

Oleksandr Sushko, head of research in the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, said at a press conference on May 24 that Poroshenko “had managed to remain respected in the international community.”

Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank, said that “foreign policy is the field where Poroshenko feels most comfortable.”

“And this year he has something to brag about (in this field),” Fesenko said.

However, Fesenko also said that the people’s support for Poroshenko could have been greater if Ukraine had obtained the visa-free regime earlier, as Poroshenko had promised.

Poroshenko’s achievements in domestic policy were to “increase Ukraine’s defense capability, (and achieve a) relative stabilization of the political situation and a certain de-escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and (introduce) electronic declarations,” the report reads.

According to Fesenko, “Poroshenko has managed to get the status of the most influential figure in the political system thanks to his hyperactivity, interpersonal communication, and other instruments of influence, such as through law enforcement.”

Presidential errors

Among the Poroshenko’s failures that “repeat themselves year-in, year-out” experts named failure to fight corruption, the slow pace of reform, and failure to end the war in the east, which on his election the president promised to stop “in hours, not months.”

Russia’s war against Ukraine has already claimed the lives of more than 2,700 Ukrainian soldiers and members of other law enforcement and security bodies. Up to 9,800 have been wounded.

Poroshenko was also criticized for appointing allies and provoking confrontations with civil society and anti-corruption activists, such as through introducing a law that obliges anti-corruption activists to submit electronic declarations, as government officials, lawmakers and judges have to do.

Ihor Koliushko, the head of the Center of Political and Legal Reform, a think tank, said Ukraine’s political regime is still “like in the Soviet-era, and large-scale corrupt (schemes) are suspected to be present.”

Koliushko said that Poroshenko had failed to introduce electoral reform or even reelect members of the Central Election Commission, the current membership of which was supposed to have been replaced in 2014.

According to Koliushko, Poroshenko is also dragging his feet on passing the crucial law on the Constitutional Court – one of the key laws in judicial reform, which will clear the way for the election of new judges to the Constitutional Court.

“The entire reform is dictated by the president, but behind closed doors on Bankova,” Koliushko said, referring to the street on which the presidential administration is located.

Poroshenko’s years in numbers

Over the three years of his presidency, Poroshenko has submitted 111 bills, 93 of which (84 percent) became law, according to a survey by the Committee of Voters of Ukraine think tank.

At the same time, only 71 out of 307 bills, or 23 percent, presented by the government of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman have been passed by parliament.

The survey reads that cooperation between government and the president has improved, but the amount of legislation actually passed is still low.

For parliament, the percentage of passed laws is even lower – only 7 percent, or 326 out of 4, 476 bills submitted over the three years, have been made law.

However, the head of Committee of Voters of Ukraine Oleksiy Koshel said parliament is flooded with “PR-bills” or so-called “legislative spam” – unrealistic or badly written draft laws that lawmakers submit only to promote themselves.

He also said that Poroshenko’s bills get most support in parliament from the People’s Front party – on average the bills are supported by 85 percent of that faction’s lawmakers. The Bloc of Petro Poroshenko comes second with 79 percent of its lawmakers voting in favor of the president’s bills. The percentage is lower because of problems with “factional discipline,” experts say.

Unsurprisingly, the Opposition Bloc party, which mainly consists of allies of former President Viktor Yanukovych, votes the least for Poroshenko’s bills.

During his rule, Poroshenko has vetoed 39 laws passed by parliament. However, parliament then went on to pass 15 of them with amendments.

Still on top

Sushko from the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation said that according to a range of polls, Poroshenko’s ratings have fallen dramatically, but he would still win out over other politicians if elections were held in the near future.

“Poroshenko stands with his feet between the new and the old Ukraine,” Sushko said. “One foot is in the past, and one in the future. He is a hybrid historical figure who represents this time in Ukrainian history.”

The head of Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Iryna Bekeshkina, agrees.

“The president is on the equator, and he could go north or south,” Bekeshkina said.