COMMENTARY: Ukrainian government's reform plans need more support and control from below (06/12/05)

COMMENTARY

Ukrainian government's reform plans need more support and control from below

by Olexiy Haran

In general, I would agree with the main arguments of the article "What the Orange Revolution did not revolutionize" (March 6) by my colleague and friend Roman Solchanyk. He is quite right in pointing out the problems that the new government faces: 1) contradictions in the attitudes in the Ukrainian regions toward the European Union and Russia; 2) old Russian stereotypes towards Ukraine; 3) EU slowness or even reluctance to embrace Ukraine.

But clearly the most important problem new government faces is domestic reform agenda. As such, the founding of the congress of the People's Union Our Ukraine on March 5, was quite telling. The entire event lasted for only four hours, and was a rather formal and bureaucratic occasion to stamp the creation of a new party described by the party program as being "born from the revolution". The new party's program is vague and amorphous - lacking any mention of Viktor Yushchenko's concrete promises and draft decrees during his campaign, as well as notable for the absence of any of the specific and pragmatic recommendations provided by the "blue ribbon commission" of international and Ukrainian experts, headed by Anders Aslund and Oleksandr Paskhaver, presented to the new president just this past January.

Generally speaking, the idea of establishing this new party was good: building a catch-all party with massive popular support to secure the victory of democratic forces in the parliamentary elections of March 2006. However, there are two sides to the coin. On one side, the new party has the positive support of many Ukrainian businessmen - not only those who supported Yushchenko throughout the course of his campaign and the Orange Revolution, but also a number of others who have recently decided to join their ranks. On the flip side, this support may end up changing the original notion of "democratic force" as these same wealthy businessmen now dominate the new party's leadership.

During the presidential campaign, many intellectuals and experts who sympathized with the opposition were reluctant to criticize Mr. Yushchenko in order not to undermine his position vis-à-vis his undemocratic opponents. This protection may continue until the end of the parliamentary campaign. However, in order to develop in a healthy manner, the new government needs to be held accountable by the public. A number of analysts and journalists have already begun to criticize the president and new government for their choice of several important appointments, hastily made declarations, vague promises and inconsistencies with electoral slogans.

Compromises between Mr. Yushchenko's bloc and pragmatic parts of Leonid Kuchma's camp were instrumental in defusing tensions during the revolution, however, experts are beginning to point out that several resultant appointments in current governmental bodies are frustrating, as representatives of the old regime may seek to stall the whole reform process on both the national and local levels.

Furthermore, governmental officials do not appear to have a clear vision of reform goals in certain spheres. How will the competing variants become harmonized into a unified vision? How will reforms be accomplished given the limited resources at the government's disposal? And how can the government provide effective implementation of reforms on local levels?

Or take, for example, the sphere of foreign policy that is still so divisive for Ukrainian society as Dr. Solchanyk rightly points out. What are specific steps to be undertaken to join the EU and WTO? How will the government overcome its negative consequences? How will it maintain pragmatic relations with Russia? We can see important symbolic actions in the sphere of Euro-integration. But how will the government follow up? (Interestingly, the event inaugurating the People's Union Our Ukraine did not mention any plans to join the EU despite the fact that Mr. Yushchenko has included the topic in numerous speeches.) How will the government overcome these inconsistencies and forestall the accompanying dangers?

Returning once more to the newly inaugurated party, there is one encouraging notion in the party's program that will perhaps assist in the reform process: the party aims to provide a new role for public advisory boards on the national and local levels, and actively involve them into the process of decision-making. These boards could play an important role in advising the government and keeping it accountable, so long as they are not just formalities manipulated to endorse decisions already made by the authorities (as was the case under previous administrations).

This also brings to mind the state of Ukraine's NGO sector. Many leaders of various NGOs have recently joined new administrative bodies. Positively speaking, this will naturally provide increased contacts between government bodies and the third sector. Conversely, this third sector brain drain could weaken local level NGOs or create an environment in which NGOs become servile to new authorities and/or transform themselves into simple implementers of governmental decisions.

There are no right answers to these problems, however, a proven method for deciding the best course to follow is through public oversight, opinion and feedback to government bodies. Thus, it is imperative that the public begin to contribute by giving the new government the opportunity to receive and address deserved criticism. Other methods of public input include public participation in the drafting of new legislation and the monitoring of governmental activity.

For the Ukrainian government to be successful in its current journey, the voice of the public, the mass media and independent experts must learn to unleash their potential and become important tools in supporting (and amending when necessary) governmental reform plans.

Dr. Olexiy Haran is the Eurasia Foundation's regional vice-president for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

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