Can Ukraine's New Government Fix The Country?

What You Need To Know:

✓ While some say new Ukrainian government represents a return of oligarch capture and is an end to hopes of reform, Polyakova has a more optimistic perspective;

✓ This is President Poroshenko’s last chance to show that his governing can actually deliver the kinds of reforms that the West and Ukrainian people are waiting for the government to do;

✓ “The new officials are in some ways hand-picked by Poroshenko himself… So now if the government cannot deliver the kinds of reforms that has to deliver in a short time period, there will be nobody else to blame, except Poroshenko himself.

✓ “Now there’s nobody else to blame…and Ukraine has no other choice. This is their last chance.”

After months of political deadlock Ukraine finally has a new government, which has sparked a range reactions. While some say this government represents a return of oligarch capture and is an end to hopes of reform, some have a more optimistic perspective on the new government of prime-minister Volodymyr Groysman.

“This new government coalition and the new ministers that are appointed, in particular the Prime Minister, are not as bad as, particularly, Western media have been saying,” states Alina Polyakova, Deputy Director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, adding that this is Poroshenko’s last chance to show that his governing can actually deliver the kinds of reforms that the West and Ukrainian people are waiting for the government to do.

Polyakova stresses that although the new, more centralized government no longer includes reform-minded foreigners, the newly appointed ministers will have no choice but to push through reforms: “The new officials are in some ways hand-picked by Poroshenko himself… So now if the government cannot deliver the kinds of reforms that has to deliver in a short time period, there will be nobody else to blame, except Poroshenko himself.”

Polyakova thinks that PM Groysman is in a good position “to cooperate with the parliament, to bring them on board with the government’s agenda.” And while the ministers might not be reform-minded, they have no choice but to perform: “Now there’s nobody else to blame…and Ukraine has no other choice. This is their last chance.”

Hromadske’s Josh Kovensky spoke to Alina Polyakova, Deputy Director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council on April 19th, 2016 in Kyiv.