Editor’s Note: This op-ed by President Volodymyr Zelensky was published in Ukrainian by Focus magazine on May 14. The Kyiv Post is republishing it with the permission of Zelensky’s office. The translation is by the Kyiv Post.
There are nearly 200 very different countries in the world. But the most successful countries have something in common. They learned how to offer the world something unique, something useful — something that stands out.
Every successful country has managed to build its own system of relations between the state and its citizens. They learned how to communicate. Not all of these systems are perfect. But all of them are sustainable — when hit by crises, they don’t fall apart but find solutions fast.
It is with these two ideas in mind that we have begun the process of Ukraine’s transformation. First — we have to create the conditions for Ukraine to find its own path to success in the world. It’s not easy, but it’s definitely possible.
Second — we have to make the state sustainable, flexible and prepared to effectively react to modern challenges while preserving democracy. Real democracy, not an imitation. The kind of democracy that works in the interests of all citizens, not a privileged few.
Who benefited in full from the opportunities that we’ve had since the 1990s? You know the names of these people. Every year they are on the list of richest Ukrainians. And what about everyone else? Society is expected to simply adapt to the way these chosen ones and those close to them divided up political, financial, industrial, and media resources.
These “chosen ones” designed the rules of the game to work for them. A state where such inequality exists will never have fair competition or be a pleasant place.
The absolute majority of Ukrainians didn’t think this situation was fair. This is what influenced the 2019 elections. The fact that one of the oligarchs suffered a devastating election defeat demonstrates what society wants.
It wants a different outlook, different principles and rules of living. A different level of social dialogue. In some areas we are already succeeding. For example, for the first time in many years the number of oligarchs in Ukraine went down, not up. Viktor Medvedchuk is out.
With the help of legal tools, Medvedchuk was stripped of the ability to use media assets and state property to attack the state and undermine its security.
Others will follow, until all oligarchs become simply big businessmen.
Our predecessors could have done it if they wanted to. But in those times, the existence of oligarchs was considered to be natural, beneficial and a guarantee of stability.
This example demonstrates the status of an oligarch. When these people lose their media assets, when they lose their ill-gotten access to strategic enterprises, and when the country’s leadership doesn’t protect them — they can’t take anything from the state anymore, and can’t continue to weaken it.
This is what our policy of de-oligarchization is about. If there are no “chosen” citizens who are above everyone else and blackmail the country to seize something — then Ukraine will be truly competitive in the world.
In the near future, society will be presented with a fundamental bill on de-oligarchization, which will capture a systematic view of this problem.
We desperately need to create maximum transparency in economic relations, prevent destructive concentrations of resources and ensure equality of all citizens before the law and the courts.
When we didn’t have this, the country was among the poorest in Europe for decades. When we establish it, Ukraine will begin a stable economic growth that will continue for decades, and it will finally solve the problem of poverty.
What are we doing right now to accomplish this? We are carrying out dozens of necessary reforms within a very thorough transformation procedure. It includes fair courts, effective decentralization, the modern financial sector, privatization, the completion of land reform and the creation of the best possible conditions for economic development.
Again — there are dozens of fundamental reforms, big and small. Together they are changing the system.
Any transformation must have a goal.
It’s not just a movement for the sake of movement and a path without a compass and a map. Ukrainians must become comprehensible to the world, just like each of us immediately understands what distinguishes France, Germany, Poland, Canada, Israel and other rich countries that provide a comfortable life for their people.
How do we achieve this?
First of all, by stopping senseless infighting, encouraged by the oligarchic structures.
Also, we need to realize that no leadership can decide on the people’s behalf what the country can offer the world. This has never worked. The people find the path themselves. What the leadership needs to do is to make their lives easier, give them more freedom and security, so that society can function more efficiently.
For example, we are de-bureaucratizing the relationship between the state and the citizens. Millions of Ukrainians are already using the Diya app to receive administrative services and state aid, pay fines or simply access their IDs.
Ukraine has become the first country in the world where digital passports have the same force as ordinary paper documents. So can we be the first to do something, to be on the cutting edge? Yes, we can.
Ukrainians do not need someone to explain to them how huge the potential of our country is. Each of us understands this. To realize this potential, we need a fair and absolutely rational state system — we are laying the foundation for it right now.
And, of course, we need peace. Every war ends. We have never incited this confrontation. On the contrary, thanks to rational diplomacy, we have done what was impossible before. The silence on the front line, which saved dozens of lives last year. The transit gas contract which is 100% beneficial for us. The release of prisoners, some of whom had been in captivity for years.
We have succeeded with this and we will succeed with everything else that we need to in order to establish a fair and stable peace.
What have we realized in these two years? At the very least, an understanding of what the global competitive world is, what place modern Ukraine should take in it, and what transformations and reforms should lead us to this place.
Our actions on this path will include a whole package of systemic, interconnected reforms that must destroy the traditional oligarchic system and replace it with a much more fair social-economic order.
