VIDEO
Reform efforts in Ukraine have faced numerous challenges in 2020. In March, President Volodymyr Zelensky fired many of the reform-minded technocrats in his cabinet and replaced them with establishment figures. Anti-corruption efforts are stymied by courts backed by special interests, while oligarchs and Russian agents control entire blocs of lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada, rendering legislative reform nearly impossible.
Fortunately, Ukrainians appear to be fed up with the “business as usual” cynicism that has crept back in. Local elections in late October delivered a sound rebuke of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, which lost seats in regional parliaments across the country and performed poorly in major mayoral races. Can reform efforts overcome a lack of political will in Kyiv? What can Western partners do to help Ukraine get back on track?
Speakers include Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, former prime minister of Ukraine and a distinguished fellow at the Eurasia Center; Dr. Tymofiy Mylovanov, former minister of economic development, trade, and agriculture of Ukraine; Serhiy Verlanov, former head of the state tax service of Ukraine; and Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Eurasia Center. Ambassador John Herbst, director of the Eurasia Center, moderates and Dr. Emily Channell-Justice, director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at Harvard University’s Ukrainian Research Institute, welcomes.
