Neil Buckley
“Old forces” and vested interests in Ukraine are
trying to roll back structural reforms achieved since the country’s 2014
revolution, and a purely technocratic government is the only way to ensure
continuing progress, the outgoing economy minister warned at the weekend.
Aivaras Abromavicius, who resigned last week, said in an interview with
the Financial Times that his decision to quit “should serve as . . . a warning
signal that the reform process needs to be continued with new levels of
transparency”.
The Lithuania-born former investment banker accused
senior allies of Petro Poroshenko, the president, and Arseny Yatseniuk, the
premier, of trying to “meddle” in running state-owned enterprises to block
reforms.
He said a government entirely free from political
connections, headed by US-born finance minister Natalie Jaresko, was the best
way to ensure reforms could continue.
The resignation last week of one of Kiev’s highest
profile reformers provoked one of the most serious political crises in Ukraine since the ousting of Russia-leaning
president Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014 after two months of street protests.
It has sparked calls from activists for a full-scale shake-up of the
government, or even early elections.
Reforms to break the grip of billionaire oligarchs and
other well-connected insiders on the economy and politics, and root out
corruption, were among the key demands of the revolution.
Opinion polls show mounting discontent among Ukrainians over the pace of reform, with some initiators of
the protests warning they might call citizens on to the streets again.
“A lot of good things have been done, but
unfortunately change is not yet irreversible,” Mr Abromavicius told the FT.
“What is very worrying is that some of the old forces are trying to unravel a
lot of the good things.”
By “old forces”, he was not just referring to
oligarchs, he said: “It has been very clear that unfortunately some of the
closest allies of the president and the prime minister, who have been
notoriously named and shamed in the local and international media, have been
meddling into the business of state-owned corporations.
“In my case, these guys basically were trying to take
over part of the ministry, by appointing their people, in a brutal, hostile
way.”
Mr Abromavicius, giving further details of his
decision to quit, said that last Monday he was given documents relating to a
candidate he was told he should appoint as a deputy minister, although there
was no vacancy. The person who contacted him said he represented Ihor
Kononenko, a long time business partner of Mr Poroshenko now serving as an MP,
Mr Abromavicius said.
Mr Kononenko denied wrongdoing and said last week that
the economy minister’s allegations were an attempt to shift responsibility for
his own failures.
Mr Abromavicius said he believed the motive for the
approach was the recent transfer of control of Naftogaz, the state natural gas
distributor, from the energy ministry to his economy department. His ministry
had also gained responsibility for appointing chief executives of the top 60
state-controlled enterprises. State businesses frequently serve as sources of
rent-seeking for corrupt officials.
The transfer of responsibilities meant that the
attractiveness of posts in the economy ministry had “increased beyond
recognition”.
Mr Abromavicius added that he had felt personally
intimidated after being stripped by Ukraine’s secret services of his security
detail — ostensibly on cost-saving grounds — two weeks earlier.
Analysts warn even a technocratic government would not
be immune to pressure from vested interests and might struggle as much as the
current cabinet to get its measures through a fractious parliament.
Ms Jaresko, who like Mr Abromavicius is well-regarded
by Ukraine’s international partners and has led Ukraine’s efforts to secure a
$40bn IMF-led support package, has often been mentioned as a possible
technocratic premier but is not thought keen to take the job.
Mr Abromavicius warned that Ukraine was suffering a
“crisis” of trust and values. “The crisis of trust is not just [in] parliament
and government, it is really [about] belief in the reform process, belief in
the political elite, in the political establishment.”
He added that technocrats could form an “efficient and
effective” government if backed by appropriate political agreements from
Ukraine’s parliamentary parties.
“The support from our western partners is decreasing,
and it is important to use this opportunity to gain trust back,” he said.
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