Open Letter to the President and the Government of Ukraine

On September 9th VoxUkraine with the support of Kyiv School of Economics hosted discussion on "The urgency and priority of reforms in Ukraine." Discussion was held as an event in the series of VoxUkraine Clubs with participation of Roger Myerson, 2007 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics. Based on results, organizers prepared an Open Letter to the President and the Government with consolidated position of the participants.

To the President of Ukraine
Petro Poroshenko

To the Prime Minister of Ukraine
Arseny Petrovich Yatsenyuk

Dear Petro Oleksijovych!
Dear Arseny Petrovych!

Ukraine is in its most dire state since independence. The ongoing Russian aggression is claiming the lives of our best compatriots and bleeding the economy. Yet this is by no means an excuse to delay long overdue reforms.

The situation is on the edge, and failure to take immediate radical steps may lead to the loss of Ukrainian sovereignty. People and businesses are increasingly frustrated with the lack of change for the better. It is not long before they will start to question whether Ukrainian leadership really has the political will to combat corruption, institute the rule of law and improve the business climate. Moreover, the forthcoming parliamentary elections provide a fertile ground for political confrontation, which Russia may use to sow discontent and provoke another political crisis.

We praise your commitment to reforms and understand that you have to devote much of your time to military matters. However, in order to ward off domestic unrest and thwart Russian efforts to ruin our economy, we call on you to unite Ukrainian patriots and mount a joint effort to rescue the country by immediately launching radical reforms instead of waiting until after the parliamentary elections.

The list of required reforms is extensive and covers many areas that should be prioritized without procrastination. Yet we would like to emphasize that in addition to setting the priorities, another vital question is who will take up the implementation task. The primary task should be to overhaul the government bureaucracy in order to transform it into an efficient state institution staffed with a new generation of pro-European professionals. Reforms must be systemic and uncompromising, as half-hearted measures will have no definitive impact.

We stand ready to do our utmost to help accelerate reforms by engaging in a broad-based dialogue, contributing personally and attracting the best domestic and foreign talent.


Signatories:

VoxUkraine Advisory Board:

Roger Myerson, PhD, University of Chicago, 2007 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics

Gerard Roland, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Jan Svejnar, PhD, Columbia University

VoxUkraine Editorial Board:

Olena Bilan, Dragon Capital
Volodymyr Bilotkach, PhD, Newcastle University
Dmytro Boyarchuk, CASE-Ukraine
Yuriy Gorodnichenko, PhD, UC Berkeley
Tymofiy Mylovanov, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Veronika Movchan, Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting
Dmytro Sologub, Raiffeisen Bank Aval
Oleksandr Talavera, PhD, University of Sheffield

Invited to VoxUkraine Club

Vasyl Gatsko, Democratic Alliance party
Hanna Hopko, Reanimation Reforms Package civic initiative, Samopomich party
Semen Semenchenko, Donbass Battalion
Yegor Sobolev, Civic Lustration Committee, Volya party
Oleksandr Solontay, Institute for Political Education, Syla Lyudey party

Anatoliy Amelin, Association Aspen-Ukraine
Anna Derevyanko, European Business Association
Oleg Derevyanko, PhD Association Aspen-Ukraine
Daniil Pasko, PhD, Harvard Club

George Logush, PhD, Kyiv School of Economics
Mykhailo Vynnytsky, PhD, Kyiv Mohyla Business School
Sergiy Garmash, OstroV online newspaper
Alexander Noynets , edition “Petr and Mazepa”
Alexander Zholud, International Centre for Policy Studies
Victoria Podgornaya, Center for Social and Political Planning
Ivan Lukerya, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research
Agnieszka Piasecka, Open Dialogue Foundation

Igor Buinyi, Democratic Alliance party
Denys Bigus, channel ZIK
Ostap Yednak, Reanimation Reforms Package civic initiative
Pavlo Illyashenko, Center for Economic Solutions, Open Dialogue Foundation, AYA Capital
Pavlo Kyshkar, Donbass Battalion, Samopomich party
Paul Kuchta, Center for Economic Solutions, Open Dialogue Foundation
Jaroslav Markevich, Donbass Battalion
Elena Minitch, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Kiev Chapter, Democratic Alliance party
Andriy Pylypenko, Open Dialogue Foundation
Vira Prokura, Civic Lustration Committee, Volya party
Yuri Ryfyak, Democratic Alliance party
Volodymyr Vakhitov, PhD, Kyiv School of Economics
Pavlo Prokopovich, PhD, Kyiv School of Economics
Elena Besedina, PhD, Kyiv School of Economics
Anna Vakhitova, PhD, Kyiv School of Economics
Oleg Korenok, Virginia Commonwealth University
Ilona Sologoub, Kyiv School of Economics
Natalia Shapoval, Kyiv School of Economics
Sergei Kubakh, agriculture and land expert, Reanimation Reforms Package of Reforms
Roman Bakhovskyy, public activist