Roman vacation of power: why Ukraine is losing Western support

The current government should not arrange a “Roman vacation” for officials, but rather work realistically with Western allies, who are already openly asking about the progress of reforms in Ukraine, in particular the fight against corruption, which in turn may lead to a decrease in assistance.

This opinion was expressed on the air of “Pryamoy” by Pavlo Rozenko, an expert on social and economic policy.

“Putin hasn’t changed anything in his plans, and all this talk about him wanting Ukraine to recognize 4 or 5 regions as Russian… No, he wants to destroy Ukraine as a state. This is his truly existential, philosophical, and practical task. And today his main task is to reduce support for Ukraine at all levels, including the US and the European Union… But I hope that both Trump and the EU leaders have a clear understanding, or this understanding is emerging, that putting Putin at the negotiating table is an absolutely futile endeavor, and that he must be defeated on the battlefield,” Rozenko noted.

At the same time, according to him, the Ukrainian authorities need to take real steps within the country to combat corruption, because in Europe questions are already being asked about the rollback of democracy, as evidenced in particular by the conference on reconstruction in Rome.

“Traveling to conferences or Roman corporate events is, of course, a cool thing for officials, but when we ask for something from partners, and on the other hand we do everything in Ukraine to slow down all reforms, to continue to curtail democracy, freedom of speech and go down an anti-European path inside Ukraine, not to fight corruption, demonstratively not to fight corruption, then, excuse me, these conversations and wringing of hands at European officials make less and less of an impression,” the expert explains.

At the same time, he emphasized that the European Union is increasingly changing its tone towards the current government due to corruption scandals, and this, in turn, may lead to a decrease in assistance to Ukraine.

“European politicians are increasingly beginning to ask the authorities what is being done to ensure that Ukraine moves along the European path, primarily in terms of overcoming corruption. Do you think that Europeans don’t see how officials are publicly “excusing themselves” that we have two deputy prime ministers, one of whom is from the European integration movement, who are suspects in criminal cases, that every week a new corruption scandal arises at the highest levels of government,” Rozenko noted.

“On the eve of this Roman vacation for officials, the Cabinet of Ministers unanimously voted to effectively halt the reform of the Bureau of Economic Security, the highest body that should consider corruption crimes in economic policy,” the social and economic policy expert recalled.

As a reminder, the 4th Conference on Ukraine Recovery began in the Italian capital of Rome on July 10. During her speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the launch of the European Recovery Fund for Ukraine . In addition, Ukraine received 1 billion euros from the European Union from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.

At the same time, the previous day, the British edition of The Economist published an article stating that the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, is behind potential personnel changes in the government , which may occur in the near future. It is noted that Yermak is making attempts to remove certain officials, instead promoting the “necessary” people for himself. Thus, according to three interlocutors who spoke on condition of anonymity, the head of the OP influenced the course of the Chernyshov case. In particular, it was he who allowed it to advance, while others were frozen.

Meanwhile, Yermak himself is increasingly becoming a source of irritation in Washington . This is confirmed by more than a dozen sources among former and current US officials, as well as congressional aides. Some of the interlocutors describe Yermak as overly demanding, harsh in communication and poorly informed about domestic US politics. Some express concerns that he may have inaccurately conveyed Washington’s position to the Ukrainian leadership. One source described him as a “ bipartisan irritant .”

By the way, the publications in the media of materials regarding the role of the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, in the processes of curtailing democracy indicate that the patience of the Western allies has already run out , so Bankova should draw her own conclusions so that our country does not lose military assistance, – believes public figure Karl Volokh.

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