Alexey Goncharuk is the youngest prime minister in the history of Ukraine. He is not a politician, but a technocrat - everything, as Vladimir Zelensky promised (almost)

The new composition of the Verkhovna Rada at the first meeting approved Alexei Goncharuk as Prime Minister of Ukraine. 290 deputies out of 450 voted for him. Goncharuk 35 years old, before that he did not occupy high managerial posts. Nevertheless, it was his candidacy that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who called on the parliament for constructive work.

Who is Alexey Goncharuk?

The youngest prime minister in the history of Ukraine. Alexei Goncharuk is 35 years old. His predecessor Vladimir Groysman headed the government at the age of 38. Goncharuk was born in the Chernihiv region, and his father, according to Ukrainian Pravda, was the deputy head of the local branch of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, in which Viktor Medvedchuk played an active role, today considered an informal representative of Russia in Ukrainian politics.

A professional lawyer, a member of Euromaidan. In the 2000s, Goncharuk was engaged in legal support for business. The only relatively bright episode from his then life is due to the fact that one of the companies in which the future prime minister worked was convicted in an illegal scheme - but after he quit. In the video shot in the early days of the Euromaidan 2013, Goncharuk is arguing with one of the opponents of the protests and calls himself "an ordinary citizen of Ukraine." In some Ukrainian media, he is called an active participant in further events, but he certainly was not among the leaders of the protest movement.

For a long time (and unsuccessfully) he sought to get into public policy. In 2014, shortly after the victory of Euromaidan, Goncharuk headed the list of the liberal and pro -Western Power of People - one of many organizations created to renew the country's political elite. She scored 0.11% of the vote in the elections, and the next year, Goncharuku was not mentioned in the Great Popular in the Great Profile dedicated to the party in Ukrainian Pravda. In 2018, shortly before the start of the presidential campaign, the future prime minister participated in the creation of the movement “People are important”, which, however, did not become a full -fledged political force. On the one hand, at such a political career you can look at the history of failures. On the other hand, throughout Goncharuk, he showed himself a consistent supporter of one ideological line and did not discredit himself with ties with any of the parties of the old establishment.

It is not known how I met Zelensky. Simultaneously with the political Goncharuk, he made an expert-chin career. In 2014, the then Minister of Ecology, Igor Shevchenko, invited him to the post of adviser on a voluntary basis. His tasks included the development of a public portal with information about subsoil use. In 2015, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavichus invited him to the post of head of the office of effective regulation, which dealt with issues of simplifying business in the country. Goncharuk promised a mortgage at 12-13% per annum, the legalization of the gambling business and the free sale of land until 2020. As Goncharuk got into the Zelensky team, it is still not known for certain, but, according to Ukrainian Pravda, he very quickly gained weight there and even could spend several of his acquaintances on the list of the “servant of the people”.

Why did Zelensky choose a potter?

Zelensky promised to appoint the Prime Minister "Guru Economics". Immediately after the victory of the “servants of the people” in the parliamentary elections, Zelensky said that the post of head of government should be occupied by an “independent strong man with a professional education”, which “has never been in politics”. The unsuccessful attempts of Goncharuk to engage in public politics in this sense, rather, play on his hands - in any case, they did not prevent him from perceived as a “new face”. Familiar Goncharuk says he is a workaholic and a team player. True, among the possible candidates for the premier post that were mentioned earlier, were those who, at least, were no less competent in economic matters - and, unlike Goncharuk, has some managerial experience.

Goncharuk will not overshadow Zelensky himself. Ukraine is a parliamentary-president of the Republic, but due to the fact that the Party “The Servant of the People” received the absolute majority in the Verkhovna Rada, the possibilities of the President of Zelensky were significantly larger than that of his predecessors. Some experts even started talking about the fact that Ukraine has become a superpreferred republic overnight, and Zelensky itself began to be compared with Alexander Lukashenko. Nevertheless, this is a rather fragile design, which still rests on great expectations from the new government. It is not clear what will happen if the country encounters any crisis, foreign policy or economic. The oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who is considered close to Zelensky, predicts the flight from the “servant of the people” of 100 deputies, as a result of which the faction will lose the majority. In such a situation, the role of the prime minister will increase sharply, and in this post the president needs an absolutely loyal person - preferably, without extensive ties. In which case, it will be possible to shift the responsibility for failures. Goncharuk is perfect.

The candidacy of Goncharuk was lobbying by the head of the Zelensky administration. According to RBC-Ukraine, an important factor that predetermined the final choice was the position of the head of the president’s office (as the administration is called by Zelensky) Andrei Bogdan. In the first months of the new presidency, Bogdan became almost the most influential politician of Ukraine, who constantly accompanies Zelensky during all meetings and visits. Under the former Ukrainian presidents, such an influence of the heads of administrations sometimes became a problem-in particular, due to conflicts with the premieres. Now such a problem should not arise. On the other hand, this increases the dependence of Zelensky on Bogdan, and in the event of a crisis, he will inevitably provoke talk about the president’s non -independence in decision -making.

What will the new government do?

Economic and political reforms. In his speech in the Rada, Goncharuk said that his priority is to reduce the loan rate, attract foreign assistance and investment, as well as demonopolization of the country's economy. Zelensky brought to the Rada and a package of political reforms - they involve a reduction in the number of parliamentary deputies to 300, the introduction of a completely proportional electoral system, which should exclude the possibility of actual capture of the voter in the field, as well as the prescribed procedure for impeachment of the president.

What will happen if the reforms fail?

During the meeting of the parliament, Vladimir Zelensky took the floor and called the deputies to constructive work in order to "get into the textbooks as a parliament that did an incredible, which brought to life everything that they could not do in the previous 28 years." Otherwise, he said, in history this convocation can remain as "a parliament that lasted the least - one year."

“Believe me, I already know, to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada is not so scary,” Zelensky said. Earlier, Igor Kolomoisky predicted that in a year the Ukrainian parliament will be dissolved.

Dmitry Kartsev