Ukrainian politician Sergey Levochkin spoke about the consequences of the adoption of the law on oligarchs, President, "Big construction and restoration" and the restoration of peace in the Donbass. The publication published an interview with a People's Deputy from the "Opposition Platform - For Life". Gordon.
- One of the main topics of today's political agenda is the law on oligarchs, adopted in the first reading. How do you feel about this law?
- There is no novelty in this agenda - the government trivially exploits the topic of property inequality to maintain its political rating. This game is not new. Depending on the sentiments of the poor majority, at different times and in different contexts, regimes robbed and oppressed the rich, took their property for the benefit of themselves, the republics, or the Reichs. Simply put, the current "anti-oligarchic" campaign solves the problem of strengthening the vertical and preserving power.
- How will the law on oligarchs help to solve this problem?
- In order to overcome property inequality and build a fairer society, poverty must be defeated, and there are two solutions. Difficult, but real - economic recovery. As we can see, due to various reasons, the government is unable to cope with this task. Therefore, they followed the simple path: they wrote bills against rich fellow citizens, told the rest that if they oppressed the rich, we would live. Let's take it and divide it, divide it, drive it - we started such a game to maintain ratings. But it will not bring success, there will not be sufficient economic effect to overcome disparities, poverty, therefore it will end with the defeat of the government, the deceived expectations of the poor, new dissatisfaction of the people.
- On the other hand, your opponents will object to you now and say that you are criticizing the law on de-oligarchization only because you yourself may fall under it.
- There is no criticism in my words, only an analysis of what is happening.
- But if the law is passed, will you be considered an oligarch? What will be the consequences for you and what will you do in such a case - will you agree to the inclusion in the register of oligarchs or will you get rid of some assets? And which ones?
- About "they will write down - they will not write down"... In the current situation, with the manual control of the rule of law, the government will write down anyone if they want. Even you. (Laughs).
- The same question about your party colleague Viktor Medvedchuk.
- Here it is better to turn to Viktor Medvedchuk.
- It is no secret that the OPZZ consists of at least two main parts. The leader of one part is Viktor Medvedchuk and Vadym Rabinovych, the second part is informally led by you and Yuri Boyko. And again, it's no secret that there are historically very complicated relations between these two parts of the party. After the decisions of the National Security Council on Medvedchuk and the drop in his rating, should we expect that OPZH will disintegrate and you and Yuri Boyko will create a new party? And when can this happen?
- OPZZH is a leading opposition force with an electoral core in the south-east of the country. The positions of OPZZH will only strengthen, including due to the pressure of the authorities on party members and the values that the party professes.
- Let's return to the bill on oligarchs. Perhaps the "Servant of the People" believes that the fight against the oligarchs is a popular electoral theme that works just for the party's ratings?
- There is a shift in accents here. A popular topic of income redistribution in society is to provide all citizens with a level sufficient for life, not survival. Ukraine is not exclusive in this - such sentiments are now in any state. However, governments in other countries stimulate economic growth for this purpose, regulate monopolies, tax bases, rates, suppress corruption, and do not engage in personal discrimination against well-to-do fellow citizens.
As for the ratings, the president's entourage spoiled the rating in two years. Unfulfilled promises, internal squabbles, incompetence in President Zelenskyi's entourage diminished his ego. There was huge support - 73%, and today the government has a negative trust/distrust balance, and the majority of citizens want to change it.
But the main "rating-minusive" mistake of the authorities is the lack of actions for the consolidation of Ukrainian society and the refusal of political inclusiveness. Instead, they went down the failed path of putting pressure on opponents, values, language, and the historical memory of a significant part of society.
- However, the rating of the president is first.
- This is the merit of Zelensky himself, an achievement despite the actions of the entourage. Compared to his predecessors, the current president (predecessor in English - "GORDON") is a PR machine. Extremely public, hard-working, easy-going, and undoubtedly, he came to power with good intentions.
But then came the predictable crisis due to low management efficiency and lack of strategies. Therefore, the rating failed and they began to save him. First, with populist actions and promises, and then, when it did not work, with not very legal public "executions" of political opponents and simply well-to-do citizens, which, by the way, as has already happened many times, will collapse in the courts and turn into reasons for new persecuted in the next political cycle. Recently, they have resorted to completely illegal actions. For example, everyone knows that the Office [of the President] gives direct commands to law enforcement agencies to persecute citizens of Ukraine who disagree with the regime or just someone unsympathetic. It doesn't work very well, but commands are given.
- You say that the Cabinet of Ministers is not up to the task of restoring the economy. But it was precisely for this that the "Big construction" project was launched.
- "Big construction" - in the vast majority of cases, this is the start of ten-year-old renovations, as well as the replacement of the road surface. It is a replacement, not road construction. Such a program could not give a serious economic effect, and it did not, as expected: production volumes in the construction industry in January - May 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 decreased by 6,1%.
At the same time, I consider the story of the "Big Restoration" to be a cool thing. Here it can work, since in this case the development of funds is not an end in itself. Historical heritage is not just being restored, but tourist centers, objects of pride and attraction are being recreated.
- That is, the "Great Restoration" is able to give impetus to the recovery of the economy?
- This is only one of the steps. Correct, but not key. The main thing is to abandon populism, on which the entire current economic policy is strung. Today, markets are being lost because of this, strategic state enterprises are being killed.
If in 2019 the state monopolies showed a positive financial result as a whole, then at the end of 2020 they were in catastrophic losses - almost UAH 42 billion. The government understands that its economic policy is wrong, but it cannot give up populism, as it does not see other ways to maintain the rating.
Because of this contradiction, there is a backlash - from the desire to please the IMF and fulfill the recommendations of the creditors to the demands, he rules in his own way and dismisses their proteges. But I repeat: if the government does not abandon populism, it will not be able to improve the level of well-being, ensure economic growth, or maintain people's support.
- What is the alternative?
- We need peace in Donbass, a clear program for the restoration of markets for Ukrainian goods, economic patriotism, support for our producers, changes in the structure of the economy, effective government. We need an increase in direct investments, the creation of a normal stock market, and this is possible only in a peaceful country. What is needed is support, not discrimination of domestic capital, a stimulating tax policy instead of a "juicer". But, unfortunately, there is no such approach.
For the second time, the government does not even have an approved activity program. Most projects proceed unsystematically, chaotically, short-term and in isolation from the real needs of people and business. Many of the proposed projects will simply not be financed, since the government has no money - it is sitting on the needle of weekly borrowed on average UAH 8 billion to finance state expenditures. This is why the national debt is growing - by 400 billion in the last two years, hence the fall in GDP for five consecutive quarters, and the growth of unemployment and poverty.
- But the first point - peace in Donbass - depends not on Zelensky and not on the Cabinet of Ministers, but on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Therefore, the thesis about peace should be addressed to him, and not to the Ukrainian authorities.
- The war is going on on Ukrainian land, it is slowing down the development of our country, so for Ukraine restoring peace in the Donbass is a much higher priority than for Russia.
