Support us on Patreon
Eng
Esp
Support us on Patreon

Strategy 2020: Poroshenko posed correct goals, however not all of them are realistic

byRadio Liberty
29/09/2014
6 minute read
Strategy 2020: Poroshenko posed correct goals, however not all of them are realistic
Kyiv – President Petro Poroshenko’s Strategy-2020 program is an ambitious plan, which determines a number of measures that are important for the country’s successful development, emphasize about half of experts from various field interviewed by Radio Liberty. Meanwhile, economists say that some of the measures, for example the doubling of the GDP, the decrease of state debt (from 67% to 60% of the annual GDP) and the inclusion into the top-20 countries according to the ease of business are unrealistic expectations in the conditions of an armed conflict in the east of the country. On their part, political experts note that the strategy is mostly an electoral technology, rather than the President’s plans. 
Ukraine’s gross domestic product has to double, up to 16 thousand dollars per capita, the rating of the country’s business friendliness hat to go up from the 112th to the 20th place in the world, and the financing of the army should grow fivefold. These are only some of the goals President Petro Poroshenko posed to the Ukrainian government by 2020. To do this, the Presidents plans to replace two-thirds of the government and give 65% of government powers to local government. Strategy-2020 includes social and humanitarian aspect: Poroshenko wants Ukrainians to live longer, trust their neighbors, be proud of Ukraine, and for the youth to know two and more foreign languages. To execute this, Ukraine will have to make all possible efforts, Petro Poroshenko admitted at his press conference. “The preparation and execution of reforms have to be done in close cooperation with exerts and civil society. It is naïve to think that to do this, a law, a President’s order or government orders would be enough,” Poroshenko emphasized. Expert opinions on Strategy-2020 is varied. As such, strategic consulting corporation Gardarika expert Kostyantyn Matveiyenko emphasized that there are more electoral technologies than real intentions in the strategy. “The strategy’s theses were published before the elections. Meanwhile Poroshenko has no institutional powers to execute them, the government has such powers,” Matviyenko explains. “These two thesis conclude that nobody is going to execute the theses, that it is just an advertising campaign on the eve of the elections. As such, Poroshenko decreased his status from head of state to one of the participants of the parliamentary race.” Political expert Olexiy Holobutsky also criticized the document. “I am already tired of reading strategies. The Ukrainians, in particular, the state government, are great at planning, they talk big, even in English nowadays. We have everything except for the reforms themselves. The only thing necessary for them is political will. Even if the plans are not perfect, actions will yield results. I hope the gigantic pressure on part of the West, which is also tired of the empty promises on part of Ukrainian leaders, will work this time, and the reforms will take place,” the political expert hopes.

Experts: all resources should be involved in economic reforms, and the judiciary reform should have already begun

Chairman of the Board of the Center for Political and Legislative Reform Ihor Koliushko
sees signs that the current government will be unable or unwilling to execute some of the stated intentions. “As to trust towards the court, the intention is good. It is unclear whether it will be executed. The simples step for this, the approval of the law on the court system and judge status, has not been made yet. It is possible to replace 70% of the people in power. However, where can new professionals be found when human resources are in deficit? We have to replace not only the people, but the system as well. Because the new ones will become the same as their predecessors,” the expert predicts. On their part, economists consider the President’s strategy with moderate optimism. International Center for Perspective Studies expert Oleksandr Zholud thinks that the goals set for economic development are correct in general, however the numbers are somewhat too optimistic. “The investments this year are negative, we will see what happens next, whether they will increase by 40 billion USD. Some things mentioned in the strategy do not depend on Ukraine. For example, the provision of resource purchase of no more than 30% from a single source, if Ukraine can get two-thirds of imported gas only in Russia, and to alter the situation, we need more powerful gas pipelines for reversal or LNG terminals,” Zholud explains.

The state strategy includes life expectancy, language proficiency and Olympic achievements for the first time

Strategy-2020 published by Petro Poroshenko is ambitious, what is more, numerous goals for the development of the state are mentioned in it for the first time, notes Viktor Maziarchuk, expert of Open Dialogue foundation and member of the Reanimation Reform Package initiative. Meanwhile, some theses are barely realistic, some can only be executed under full mobilization of all branches of the government and society, Viktor Maziarchuk told Radio Liberty. “It is good that we have a middle-term state strategy. The President wants to become part of the top-20, especially for business. However, now we are far from being in the lead: number 112,” Maziarchuk concludes. “For this, the President, the Parliament and the government will have to work as a single team for the result itself. It is very good that for the first time the strategy poses goals regarding life expectancy, language proficiency, Olympic victories. We are talking about increasing these measures on account of life level. The previous government was not interested in such things.” Viktor Maziarchuk approved of other Strategy-2020 initiative, in particular, the transfer of 65% of government powers to the local government. However, he is doubtful that it is possible to decrease state debt and increase our credit rating, as the credit rating is prone to fall under conditions of local armed conflicts. As of today, Poroshenko has personally spoken about and published only the end goals of the development strategy by 2020. Society has not yet seen mechanisms of achieving them, experts assume that they have not been fully developed yet. Poroshenko’s predecessors at the post of President had their own strategies, their economic part was similar. However, the majority of the points during Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych’s presidencies were not executed.

To suggest a correction or clarification, write to us here

You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter

Please leave your suggestions or corrections here



    Euromaidan Press

    We are an independent media outlet that relies solely on advertising revenue to sustain itself. We do not endorse or promote any products or services for financial gain. Therefore, we kindly ask for your support by disabling your ad blocker. Your assistance helps us continue providing quality content. Thank you!

    Related Posts

    January 22: Whereas Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov said again, mockingly, that he yet needs to be presented with any evidence that Russian army is indeed fighting in Donbas

    January 22 – On August 24th, 2014 (Independence Day of Ukraine) Putin's army entered Ukrainian Donbas en masse and started its offensive. On January 22nd, 2015 (Day of Ukrainian Unity – celebrating the unity of Eastern and Western Ukraine) Putin's army has ostentatiously "conquered" a symbolic Ukrainian site – Donetsk airport – today Ukrainian military left behind most parts of the airport. Whereas Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov said again, mockingly, that he yet needs to be presented with any evidence that Russian army is indeed fighting in Donbas.

    January 22 – 10 Ukrainian military were killed and 16 wounded in ATO on January 21st, – informed the spokesman of the General Staff of Ukrainian Armed Forces Vladyslav Seleznyov.

    January 22 – Whereas NATO would like to re-establish communication with colleagues from the General Staff of the Russia's Armed Forces, – stated Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations, US General Philip Breedlove (Reuters).

    January 22 – The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov hasn't ruled out offensive operations by the militants in the near future (stated by Turchynov as a result of his visit to the war zone, according to NSDC press-service). "New terminal has been almost completely destroyed, but our Armed Forces have strengthened their positions near the village of Pisky and inflicted a series of very strong assaults", – said Turchynov.

    January 22 – Militants of the terrorist group "People's Republic of Donetsk" have "paraded" captive Ukrainian soldiers along the streets of Donetsk. Abuse of prisoners and torture of prisoners violates Hague Convention on the rules of military operations (The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907). Abuse of prisoners is punishable under Hague Tribunal. Instead, Ukrainian government is trying to start negotiations on the release of prisoners of war captured at Donetsk airport, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

    January 22 – Self-proclaimed leader of Donetsk-based terrorists Oleksand Zakharchenko has said that they intend to "push the frontline" further from Donetsk. It has been previously reported that in September 2014, when explaining the invasion of the city of Novoazovsk and other areas by the militants and disguised Russian soldiers, Russian President Vladimir Putin explained that the main objective of the militants is "pushing the frontline further".

    January 22 – In Donetsk, the terrorists fired at a trolleybus with a mobile mortar, killing seven civilians. The site of the attack is located 20 km from Donetsk airport. For several days now, the terrorists have been travelling around Donetsk in a van with a mortar, shooting at residential areas, trying to encourage the residents to take up anti-Ukrainian views.

    January 22 – During the meeting in Berlin of the heads of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the countries of the "Normandic foursome," progress was made only regarding one issue of the Minsk agreements. This was written by Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin on his page on Twitter. "Yesterday in Berlin there was a Borodino – a diplomatic battle, which no one won or lost. We made one step forward on one point of Minsk agreements," he wrote. According to him, it concerns a ceasefire.

    January 22 – Facts confirm that Russia is directly involved in the army operation in Eastern Ukraine. This was stated by the President of Lithuania, Dalia Hrybauskaite to the Lithuanian journalists during the Davos Forum, writes Delfi.lt. "This is open territorial aggression, carried out not by some terrorists-seperatists, but by Russia itself, because neither the separatists nor some other people can have such weapons. These cannot be bought at the market or on the street; they are very specific – they can only be owned by big countries," she emphasized. "All the more, there are direct indications that not only the weapons, but the army itself (Russian), its subdivisions are involved," said Hrybauskaite. According to her, Russian representatives are openly lying about the situation in Ukraine. "We really see an enormous demonstration of lying when they say one thing and do something totally opposite, when they blame one side, but, it turns out, that the obligations are not being fulfilled by the other (side)," said the President of Lithuania.

    MUSTANG WANTED: Why Ukrainians will win (music video)

    Aid and sanctions, NOT appeasement

    P.S.: Please spread this appeal as much as possible.

    byTaras Voznyak

    Тарас Возняк: Парадокси польської геополітики

    З одного боку бачимо явну чи латентну консолідацію Континенту (Світового острова). Росія зайняла гостро опозиційну диспозицію щодо США+. Китай – у вичікуючій диспозиції. Ряд країн ЄС, які традиційно тяжіли до Континенту (Німеччина, Австрія, Франція – див. Т.Возняк: Проблема німецького вибору у російсько-українській війні) є у двозначній диспозиції. Вони тісно пов'язані/нейтралізовані Світовими океанами. Однак у випадку Німеччини так само тісно пов'язані/напівнейтралізовані Росією. Але щодень то більше пов'язані/напівнейтралізовані Китаєм, де у ФРН маса проектів та планів. Окрім того, на всі ці пов'язаності/напівнейтралізації накладається ще й шлейф традиційного континентального політичного мислення та позиціонування.

    З іншого боку бачимо, як у формальний і не формальний спосіб консолідувалася традиційно антиконтинентальна англосаксонська ліга у складі США, Канади, Австралії, Нової Зеландії, Великої Британії.

    І, ще раз повторимося, в точності з передбаченням Маккіндера до антиконтинентальної ліги долучився колишній центральноєвропейський "санітарний коридор", який тільки змінює свою назву (Міжмор'я, УЛБ, ГУАМ, Вишеградська четвірка). Однак від зміни назви його "санітарна", "ізолююча" функція не змінюється.

    Сьогодні у склад віртуального неформалізованого Міжмор'я ситуативно входять Польща, Україна, Литва, Латвія, Естонія, Румунія, Молдова. В принципі, там є місце і на Білорусь та Грузію. І деякі кроки Білорусі Лукашенка підтверджують, що і вона у непрямий спосіб майже непомітно, проте дрейфує, наскільки може, у тому ж напрямку.

    byTaras Voznyak