With the beginning of a full-scale war, more than eight million citizens left our country, most of whom went to the countries of the European Union. People there adjust their lives, learn languages, work, and their children go to school.
Will they return to Ukraine after the end of the war, what is our government doing for this today and what path should the state take - ElitExpert asked the politician, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Mykhailo Pozhivanov, who heads the organization of the party VO "Batkivshchyna" in the city of Odesa.
ARE UKRAINIANS READY FOR CHANGES?
In my opinion, Ukrainians are already ready for changes and transformations, this also applies to changes in government institutions. I am convinced that we must change, because we have had two revolutions - the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity. The people rose up and supported the path to European civilization, but unfortunately nothing changed either in the country or in the government. And it would seem that the people in power have changed, but the new barigs continued to do what the previous barigs did. Sorry, but it needs to be said.
Therefore, I very much hope that this will not happen today. And the whole society will really understand that our success, the success of the country and its future depends on each of us. Because if we remain on that continent of non-European civilization, there will be no changes, none.
What are European values? Defending freedom of speech, the dignity of every person, the right to choose, think and express and for the government to respond and listen to people, was transparent in its work. Local self-government bodies still received their powers, finances and capabilities.
WILL OUR PEOPLE RETURN?
Today we have a war, most enterprises are closed, and the authorities have not even thought about canceling the real estate tax, canceling the land tax. The entrepreneur does not work and actually does not use the land or real estate, he does not receive any profit from it, and he has to pay - is this support? And this is only one aspect.
We, on the other hand, need to develop, retain and return those 8 million who left the country. It is necessary to create such conditions for people to return. Communicating a lot with those who left for Europe, one already feels today that most of them may not return. A person has already found a job and is working, receives an average of 2000 euros, rents a house for 300 euros and lives peacefully. And after returning here, what will a person have, let's take Odesa - housing 5-10 thousand UAH for rent, average salary 20 thousand UAH. and there is not enough.
And there they gave her a free school for her child, support. Therefore, our state must understand this, and not wait for the war to end. The authorities must understand that at every step, right now, it is necessary to do the right things so that our people do not just return, but have the opportunity to get a job, a decent wage and not survive, but live. And this is the task of both government and society.
UKRAINE SHOULD BECOME DIFFERENT
It is important not to lose the cohesion that society and the country have today. Because if we do not embark on the path of European civilization, then there will be no country. The example of Yugoslavia shows that this danger is real. They also said that the war will end and we will rebuild everything in a few years. I personally visited Belgrade in 2010, they had a war in 1998. And here in the central street of Knyaz Mihai, like our Khreshchatyk, there are bombed-out houses and no one has done anything for 12 years. Only in 2014 did the restoration work begin, and today everything looks more or less normal. And this is the capital of a European state, where for 14 years they did not reach this point.
Therefore, the restoration of the country and the return of our people is a serious matter, and mere promises of the authorities without concrete steps will not work. To hope that the whole world will simply give us money and it will be built - no. Such conditions should be created in Ukraine so that the countries of the world themselves want to help us, build and restore.
The main thing is that there is no point in returning to the Ukraine that existed before February 24, it did not satisfy us in many cases even then. Therefore, it is necessary to approach this very professionally, we are a European state, but someone else's history and values were imposed on us. Today, our society clearly understands that the main Ukrainian values are freedom and dignity.
We need to radically change the working methods and approaches of state institutions, they must be first of all efficient and modern. And local self-government must be defended and made more powerful and developed. This is a huge task that can build a new Ukraine, and it must be done today.
