Volodymyr Groysman: Introduction of electronic Declaration system will demonstrate double standard of political populists

The introduction of electronic Declarations for public servants will demonstrate the double standard of political populists who just show off their care about the country in words, but in practice impede effective decision-making and appear detrimental to the State. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman announced on opening a CMU session on Wednesday.

"From the podium they are speaking and saying they like the Ukrainian citizens, are resolute to provide them with every opportunity, and on the other hand, when it is crucial to take appropriate decisions, they are allegedly away – they don’t use their voting cards. It is such a policy of double, triple standard. Moreover, they use the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to discredit whatever possible. An outright lie. But they are used to it. Certain members of populist forces are used to lie, as this lie is their normal way of life. For decades politicians declare that everyone around them is bad, but they are the only to be trusted. And indeed I want to look at their electronic Declarations", urged Volodymyr Groysman.

"I want to see whether these populists possess any property abroad or they don’t, whether they have dealt with offshore companies that wasn’t included in their declaration, that are absolutely yet unknown, or they haven’t, or had their campaigns been financed, election campaign in particular, throughout 20 years, whether the funds from gas deals were transferred there, or weren’t, had they earned from the transit of gas from Russia the shadow money of 20-30 dollars per thousand cubic meters, or hadn’t. And there dozens such questions", said Volodymyr Groysman. The Prime Minister also assured that he would be among those who first complete the electronic Declaration.

"Populists are only using smooth words, but, unfortunately, apart from empty words are doing nothing to change the situation within the country. Probably, on the contrary. It is just difficult to count the damage to the country from populism and populists", he accentuated.

The Prime Minister noted that many politicians spend an inordinate amount of time participating in various television programs at the expense of their main job. "For 24 hours a day they are sitting in the TV [studios – ed.]. Haven’t you got work? I advocate the freedom of speech, to ensure openness, everything would go well, but if a person is spending a lot of time engaged in the public space, it means there is no time for work, just PR", he emphasized.

Volodymyr Groysman noted that he treats with humor and optimism the criticism the Government is subjected from populists, because it is mostly untrue. "This means the only thing that we are going the right way, and we should provide more appropriate solutions like we adopted on drugs. The same on the customs, the same on the public procurement system, the same on other reforms, those enabling to make this country wealthy and the people of this country rich, as it is our country", he urged.

Volodymyr Groysman noted that the development of the national economy and improving the welfare of citizens is the task of the daily action of each Ministers and called on members of the Government to open, transparent and efficient decision-making. "It is crucial to ensure our honesty to the society regarding real developments and specific solutions to the problems," he said.