{"id":1327980,"date":"2025-12-02T13:41:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/bankovas-gray-cardinal-why-the-head-of-the-chancellery-became-the-vice-president\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T07:25:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:25:44","slug":"bankovas-gray-cardinal-why-the-head-of-the-chancellery-became-the-vice-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/bankovas-gray-cardinal-why-the-head-of-the-chancellery-became-the-vice-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Bankova\u2019s Gray Cardinal: How the Head of the Chancellery Became Ukraine\u2019s \u2018Vice President\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Author’s Facebook<\/a> page<\/em><\/p>\n

Allow me to \u201cinsert my two cents\u201d into the already heated debate surrounding the position of the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. For nearly the entire modern history of Ukraine, this has never been the role of a mere \u201cclerk,\u201d a \u201cphone secretary,\u201d or even a \u201csimple manager,\u201d no matter how some may wish to portray it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to serving as the closest advisor and organizer for implementing the President of Ukraine\u2019s orders, the Head of the Office ensures coordination among the advisory, consultative, and other auxiliary bodies and services established by the President, as well as their interaction with the Office\u2019s structural units \u2014 and there have been quite a few of them.<\/p>\n

Almost all documents preparing the President\u2019s decisions pass through this office.<\/p>\n

A civil servant in this position is expected to arrive before the President and leave long after. In other words, one must be prepared to practically live on Bankova Street during critical times, with all the attendant pressures and circumstances. The work is indeed demanding, but the challenges are fitting for a top-level civil servant, and the position carries considerable influence, though mostly in the name of the President of Ukraine. Anyone who has held it for more than a year has consistently ranked among the top five most influential figures in Ukrainian politics.<\/p>\n

Yet until recently, no head of the President\u2019s auxiliary bodies was ever referred to as a \u201cvice president.\u201d That notion only surfaced last night when Dmytro Tabachnyk, pushing other competitors aside \u201cin the corridors leading to the first reception room,\u201d apparently entertained such an idea\u2026 though he never actually became a colonel.<\/p>\n

The position is undeniably powerful, but none of Ukraine\u2019s previous presidents allowed its temporary officeholders to appear to the public as anything resembling Cardinal Richelieu under Louis XIII \u2014 or, perhaps more fittingly, Grigory Rasputin under Nicholas II.<\/p>\n\t\t