Zelenskiy discloses first ten steps, potential key officials

The campaign of comedian and actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy
has disclosed his first ten steps if elected president, the liga.net news
agency reported on Apr. 9, citing campaign ideologue Ruslan Stefanchuk and
Danylo Hetmantsev, the campaign’s expert on economic and financial issues.

 

They are:

1.Invite British and American diplomats to the
negotiations to resolve the war in Donbas. Remove Putin confidante and
Ukrainian citizen Viktor Medvedchuk from the negotiations.

 

2.Eliminate the competition between the Defense
Ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

 

3.Appoint honest judges to the High Anti-Corruption
Court.

 

4.Submit a bill to parliament creating a legal
mediation alternative to litigation.

 

5.Submit bills to parliament introducing a 5% tax
amnesty starting 2020, a tax on capital withdrawals, an international exchange
of tax information and creating a Financial Investigations Service.

 

6.Submit to parliament a legislative package creating
the legal framework for national and local referenda and petitions, recalling
MPs, and impeaching the president.

 

7.Conduct a state audit over a four-month period.

 

8.Introduce a “secret plan” for parliament. If
Zelenskiy is unable to achieve cooperation with MPs, other options will be available
that “will impress many”.

 

9.Reform the Presidential Administration to eliminate
“curators” of public affairs and to focus on its clerical functions, including
developing reform ideas.

 

10.Nominating candidates to lead the Defense Ministry,
Foreign Affairs Ministry, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Prosecutor
General’s Office by Apr. 19, or two days before the runoff vote.

 

Possible candidates include Alex Danylyuk for foreign
minister, Ihor Smeshko for SBU head, and U.S. prosecutor Martha Boersch (who
successfully prosecuted former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko) or Romanian
National Anti-Corruption Directorate Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi for
prosecutor general, liga.net reported.

 

Zenon Zawada: This list
of promises goes a long way to remove doubts in the minds of voters about
Zelenskiy’s commitment to Ukraine’s Western integration. And this list helps to
create the impression among voters that Zelenskiy represents, at minimum, the
prospect for reforms and improvement. Meanwhile, the campaign of President
Petro Poroshenko is creating the impression that Ukraine will endure five more
years of warfare, corruption and economic stagnation.

 

Such moves make Zelenskiy’s victory at the Apr. 21
runoff vote all the more likely. The release of the list of key officials, as
well as their willingness to serve in a Zelenskiy administration, will provide
an even further boost to his prospects for victory.