On May 23, 2019, in the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center hosted a press briefing «Parliamentary Reform: Assessment of Results and Agenda for the New Authorities».

The experts of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives presented its assessment of the implementation of parliamentary reform and proposed its agenda for parliamentary reform for the new authorities: 

• Svitlana Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives;
• Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Director of the Analytical Department of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives.

Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Director of the Analytical Department of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, said that the reform of the Verkhovna Rada was completed only by 41.8%. Alexander evaluated the status of implementation of key recommendations of the Roadmap on Internal Reform and Institutional Capacity Building for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and stressed:

Svitlana Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, presented Reform of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: Way Forward and 7 immediate steps of the parliamentary reform to be taken:

The experts of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives noted that it was possible to implement the Roadmap recommendations in a year and a half. The reason for the inhibition of parliamentary reform is the lack of political will and the general coordination of all those who depend on decision-making.

Video of the press briefing «Parliamentary Reform: Assessment of Results and Agenda for the New Authorities»

Learn about  Reform of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: Way Forward

The USPS community welcomed 33 participants which are representatives of civil service, business, civil society, academia, arts and media.

As every year, the First Session of the National Program aims to give participants not only a deep understanding of European values, historical, social, political, economic processes, but also become a source of inspiration and understanding of new opportunities for their own development.

Svitlana Matviienko, Chairwoman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, welcomed the participants of the XIV Program, said: “USPS is a value-based platform that is designed to gather and develop leaders of change.”

Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, spoke about the network of the Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe and the place they occupy on the agenda of the Council of Europe. In particular, Ms. Lytvynenko explained that the Ukrainian School of Political Studies has prominent real results and a powerful network throughout the country.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze, Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, discussing the topic, stressed that European integration is already a reality, as the level of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU is unprecedented. Ivanna also added that in the EU there is a growing awareness that without a strong Ukraine there will be no safe Europe. At the same time, our task is to inform our European partners that Ukraine is not a “problem”, but a contributor to European security and economic growth.

What does it mean to make responsible judgments? How to distinguish true opinion from random and unconditional judgments? This was spoken during the First Session with Yevhen Bystrytsky, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Philosophy of Culture, Ethics and Aesthetics at the Institute of Philosophy of NAS of Ukraine, a member of the Supervisory Board of the USPS. 

Ella Libanova, PhD, Director of the M.V. Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, told about the features of the future demographic situation on the second day of the first session of the USPS.  

Oleg Ustenko, Ph.D., Executive director of The Bleyzer Foundation, told participants how the global and Ukrainian economy functions in a new normality. The term was introduced immediately after Trump won the US elections. Everything that was absolutely abnormal in the past has now become absolutely normal. All economic theory is based on rationality in behavior. And in conditions of new normality rationality is not always observed.  

Today Ukraine needs to give the world a powerful signal that our economy can be invested into. But first we need to learn how to manage public finances. Participants talked about this with Viktor Pynzenyk, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, a member of the Committee on Budget, the Supreme Council of Ukraine, professor.  

Ulana Suprun, acting Minister of Health of Ukraine, and Oleg Petrenko, Head of the National Health Service of Ukraine and USPS alumnus, talked about radical transformations in the health care system. Ulana spoke about the success of the reform and stressed the importance of a strong team of professionals who are making daily changes. Oleg shared the history of the personal path to the civil service, and outlined the main areas of responsibility of the Health Service.

Always a sincere conversation. Always a challenging talk. Yulia Mostova, editor-in-chief of Mirror Weekly and member of the Supervisory Board of the USPS, gave her assessment of the current political situation. Charity, professionalism, ability to listen and hear each other is something that is not enough for today’s society and elites in particular.

Historical consciousness is an integral part of national identity, and therefore, a significant socio-political factor. But in a post-truth era, we cannot count on a holistic identity. Natalya Yakovenko, a professor at the Department of History of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, shared his thoughts on the value orientations of Ukrainians in a historical retrospective.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, talked about an agenda for counteracting Russian aggression for the new government. Oleksander analyzed the main threats, assessed the negotiation process and described possible scenarios for the development of the situation.

In the classical children’s book, “Never-Ending Story”, a fictitious country is absorbed by Nothing. For five years, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been in the “gray area” both from the point of view of law and security, and the Crimean Tatars are being persecuted. And for five years there are no definite holistic strategies for returning the Crimea. Has the point of non-return already passed and can Nothing be diverted? In a frank conversation with Refat Chubarov, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and Tamila Tasheva, Coordinator of Crimea SOS, the group talked about the future of Crimea. 

In recent decades in Ukraine there is a discussion of the main problem of the nation’s existence – its identity. The issue of Ukrainian national memory, the controversial attitude to Soviet history, the clash of ideological orientations, the European path and isolationism are actively used in the political struggle. With Ola Hnatyuk, a professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the University of Warsaw, participants discussed postcolonial legacies and the transition from ethnic identity to civic identity.

On April 12, 2019 working meeting and discussion of the research design “Civic Assessment of Public Administration Reform in Ukraine” was held.

The preparation of the research is part of the project implemented by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives within the Civic Synergy Project under the auspices of the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with the financial support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

The event was organized by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives within the project “Ensuring Access to Justice in Ukraine: Ethical Standards and Institutional Aspects” with the support of the Law Enforcement Section of the US Embassy in Ukraine. The project aims directly at the comprehensive provision of the rule of law principle in Ukraine by strengthening the institutional capacity of the advocate’s self-government and strengthening the place of ethical norms and standards in the work of lawyers for the better protection of human and citizen rights.

The urgency and necessity of the event for Chernihiv residents was confirmed by a large number of participants, more than 70, who expressed their desire to participate in the discussion of a number of problems of provision of legal aid. Among the participants were: lawyers, human rights activists, public activists, representatives of the Novozavodsk District Court, Chernihiv Appeal Court, Chernihiv Regional Council, Chernihiv Regional State Administration, Main Directorate of the National Police in Chernihiv Oblast, Desnianska District Council in Chernihiv city, legal advisers of Chernihiv City Council, students and lecturers of Chernihiv National Technical University, cadets of the Academy of the State Penitentiary Service, as well as ordinary citizens, who are not indifferent to the state of the legal aid system in Ukraine.

During her introductory speech Svitlana MATVIIENKO, Chairwoman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, stressed the need to bring up the discussion of providing legal aid to a new level in order to develop effective and efficient mechanisms for the provision of this type of service.

Oleksandr ZASLAVSKYI, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, introduced to the participants the Town Hall Meeting (THM) format, and also emphasized the importance of such formats in decision-making both at the national and local levels:

Participants of the event got acquainted with the main aspects of legal aid provision, the grounds for its provision, and peculiarities of primary legal aid and secondary legal aid.

During an active two-hour discussion the participants discussed the proposed scenarios and developed their own approaches to the issues of the financial and organizational basis for providing services in legal aid system, the subordination of legal aid system, as well as improving the accessibility and quality of the provision of these services.
As a result of lively discussions, voting on scenarios took place. The scenarios address the main issues of providing legal aid.
After the discussion on the system of financial and organizational basis for the provision of services, the status quo scenario, that is, the implementation of the law “On Free Legal Aid” unchanged, won the vote. For this option, 67% of the participants gave their votes. The option to diversify the sources of financing of secondary legal aid between the state budget, local budgets, as well as recipients of free legal aid came second (21% of votes).
The smallest number of votes (12%) was given to the version according to which state funding is guaranteed primarily or exclusively for secondary legal aid in criminal proceedings.

During the consideration of the problem of subordination of the legal aid system, according to the results of the voting, the status quo scenario also won the vote, which means the subordination of the legal aid system to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (58% of votes).

The second place (17%) was given to the option according to which the transfer of management of the legal aid system from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, as for example is in USA. Almost the same number of votes got the Scenario 4 (transfer of responsibility for the provision of secondary legal aid to the National Bar Association of Ukraine – 13%) and Scenario 3 (management of the legal aid system by a separate central executive body – 12%).

During the voting for the third problem (Improving accessibility and quality of the secondary legal aid), each participant had the opportunity to cast his or her vote for more than one option. This is due to the fact that the proposed options in their essence are not so much alternative as complementary, that is, they can be implemented in parallel or in a complex. The largest percentage of participants of the event voted for the option of introducing an additional mechanism for issuing certificates with the option of free choice of lawyer by the recipient of the secondary legal aid (32%). The status quo option took the second place, that is, to retain the existing mechanisms provided for by the Law of Ukraine “On Legal Aid” (30%). The third place was taken by the involvement of private lawyers on a contractual basis (18%). Scenario 5 (assigning a lawyer to provide a certain amount of legal aid pro bono) and Scenario 3 (mandatory verification of the quality of the legal aid) were the least popular (10% support each).

As well as during the discussion of problems related to the Rules of Legal Ethics(December 11, 2018 in Zhytomyr), the systemic problem of lack of open discussions about the prospects for development of legal aid system in Ukraine became obvious.

The opinions and proposals of the participants, the voting results, which were recorded during the discussions, after processing and including in the report, will be sent to each participant of the events in Chernihiv and Zhytomyr, as well as distributed among the wider range of stakeholders.

This year the USPS Conference took place in the Theatre on Podil and was dedicated to the topic “Uniting. For what?”. The conference also took place in solidarity with USPS alumna Kateryna Handziuk and other activists who suffered attacks all over Ukraine.

The Conference traditionally gathered alumni of different years, from the first USPS program in 2005 to 2018. In the end of the Conference, participants of the program of 2018 received their diplomas. The Conference was also attended by friends and partners of the School.

Svitlana Matviienko, Chairowman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, and Marten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, addressed the audience with opening remarks. Svitlana called USPS “a network of changemakers” that remains untouched and unshaken throughout time. Marten recalled how joint history of the School and the Council of Europe started.

The speakers also spoke about latest important political and social events, particularly the USPS project “New Leaders”. After the opening remarks, USPS alumnus and President of the ICTV channel Oleksandr Bohutskyi talked about conclusions drawn from the TV project “New Leaders” that provided support for civic activists, volunteers and important social projects. Talking about the winner of the project, an activist and local politician from the East of Ukraine, he said: “I believe this is an absolute success. Just think about it: the winning project was the environmental one by an activist from Mariupol”.

The first panel discussion was with Sviatoslav Vakarchuk. He talked in his capacity of civic activist and not as a singer. “I was expecting to just read my speech but I can see that you invited me for a discussion”, Sviatoslav was pleasantly surprised. And the discussion was indeed interesting, with all kinds of difficult questions. Sviatoslav talked about possible changes in Ukraine comparing us to more developed countries like Britain: “Ukraine is a less established state, which is why it is much easier to transform it”.

Sviatoslav answered many difficult questions from moderator Svitlana Matviienko and from alumni about fear for own safety, about populism, about more active citizen participation, about reintegration of Donbas and Crimea. “It is not important who you are – a businessman, an artist or an engineer – when it comes to the question whether to participate in politics or not. It is the desire to change the country that is important”, said Sviatoslav talking about businessmen, journalists and artists who became politicians after the Revolution.

After the discussion with Vakarchuk, Andrii Baumeister, professor of philosophy at Taras Shevchenko National University, took the stage. He spoke about unity. His main thesis wat that in order to become united, society must overcome the natural contradictions between the interests of the majority and the individual interests, find common values for all fragmented social groups in the country, and crystallize a unique public discourse. Apart from the question of what the state should be, the philosopher drew attention to the problem of public discourse of the EU. It manifests itself in constant “smoothing of the corners” and avoiding of complex topics for discussion. Market and political rules have long been holding back the degree of debate in the EU. However, if Ukraine finds its own way, its discourse may become both European and more frank.

The next speaker, Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, also spoke about Ukraine’s own way.

“Russia is still not ready to let Ukraine out of its arms. It gives us another test for stability and ability to protect ourselves,” she shared her political forecasts and beliefs. She also discussed the risk of radicalization of society as a result of the fatigue of the war, economic and social problems, the change in the tactics of the Russian Federation, and so on.

Ivanna criticized not only the Russian Federation, but also the conflict surrounding the process of the introduction of a martial law in Ukraine: “That day we forgot how well we are able to unite in the face of an external threat.”

However, she also stressed that over the past 5 years Ukraine had accomplished “incredible things” and thanked everyone who came to the public service and adequately withstands the complexity of this work.

Akhtem Seitablayev, actor and film director, also thanked new civil servants. His speech was dedicated to the topic of culture as a factor of unification of people. Through different narratives Akhtem proved and arts and culture can unite people in spite of political and historic conflicts, particularly, when it comes to Crimea and the rest of Ukraine. Akhtem also talked about Crimea, namely the cultural ways of uniting the Crimeans and, in particular, the Crimean Tatars. The director is convinced that new forms of unification of Crimean Tatars are possible even in the present time of occupation and “Crimean” skepticism.

The Crimean topic closed a block of discussions with experts. After a break, Kateryna Zagorii, USPS alumna and the founder of the Zagorii Foundation talked about joint projects of USPS alumni and the School and how alumni can support the community.

A new partnership of the School was also announced, with a magazine LDaily, an analytical business magazine.

The Conference concluded with a play “Six Characters in Search of an Author”, the complex story of the search for real values from the Nobel Prize winner Luigi Pirandello performed by the troupe of the Kyiv Academic Drama Theatre on Podil under the direction of the People’s Artist of Ukraine, winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize Vitaliy Malakhov.

This year’s USPS delegation participated in the World Forum for Democracy that took place on 19-21 November in Strasbourg.

World Forum for Democracy that is annually held in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg is always a part of the program of the School. This year’s Forum’s topic was “Gender equality: Whose Battle?”. What role does unequal division of powers between men and women play? How to avoid gender-based violence? Why now, in 2018, gender stereotypes still hinder women’s ability to achieve their goals in civil, political and economic areas even in democratic states? How exactly all of us, women and men, can win from gender equality? These and other topics were raised during three days of the Forum.

First panel discussions were dedicated to the following topics:
–      Women and power: towards 50/50;
–      Problem of sexism, discrimination and violence against women;
–      Security, democratization and women.

USPS delegation addressed the audience at the Council of Europe several times this days with questions regarding the attacks on civic activists, securing rights of women on the territories occupied by Russia – Crimea and Donbas, and gender equality in different professional spheres.

On this day, USPS participated in round tables and labs on the following topics: artificial intelligence and gender equality, women and migration, feminist investigative journalism, religion and feminism, women in cinema etc. USPS participants also met with Permanent Representative of Ukraine in the Council of Europe Mr Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Judge of the European Court of Human Rights Ms Hanna Judkivska. The delegation discussed topical issues for Ukraine at the Council of Europe, possibilities for development of institutions and reform of Ukrainian diplomacy. With Ms Hanna Judkivska at ECHR, the delegation discussed difficulties of implementation of decisions of the Court in Ukraine and reasons for popularity of the Court among Ukrainians.

Party Innovations Hub is an initiative of International IDEA and Ukrainian school of political studies, Agency for Legislative Initiatives’ project.

Oleksandr Iakymenko, Program Coordinator for Ukraine, International IDEA, told about the importance of Party Innovation Hub, which is the answer to the challenges of global processes, in particular, the crisis of representation – the gap between voters’ needs and their elected representatives’ activity. Oleksandr stressed that, on the one hand, voters should better communicate their needs and aspirations; however, on the other hand, political parties should better listen to their voters and respond to their expectations. Party Innovation Hub is focused on the innovative communication and work technologies, both with voters and within the political parties.

Svitlana Matviienko, Chairwoman of the Board, Agency for Legislative Initiatives, told about the necessity and importance of political education, stimulation of women’s participation in political process, and the development of an effective communication model. Svitlana drew attention to the fact that party digitalization helps to build intraparty democracy, transparency and accountability of parties. It also helps in democratic consolidation.

Yevhen Barshchevskyi, Coordinator of Public Consulation Program at National Democratic Institute, told the participants of the Party Innovation Hub about the system of conducting public consultations “Your Opinion” (“Vasha dumka”), which gives political parties, and NGO networks the opportunity to deliver information and receive responses via online SMS-voting or voting on the site; as well as the resource “CiviCRM”  – a system for monitoring relationships and interaction both within the party and in communication with voters.

Yulia Reshitko, Communications Manager of CHESNO Movement, and Igor Feshchenko, Analyst on political finances of CHESNO Movement, presented Party Innovation Hub participants the tools that help political parties gain competitive advantage in the political debates. For example, PolitHUB is the base of politicians and parties that have at least once participated in national or local elections since 1998. The resources gathered data from the Central Election Commission, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, local councils, party websites, National Agency for Prevention of Corruption, party archives and media archives.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chief Executive Officer at Transparency International Ukraine, discussed the openness of political parties with the participants of the Party Innovation Hub.

Why openness and accountability are essential for political parties? Which are the key audiences for political parties? Who are the main stakeholders of political parties?

Oleg Medvedev, political consultant, discussed with the participants of the training the ratings, organizational capacities of political parties, and probable political strategies before the elections.

Michael Babyak, Dome Inc., Former Director of Marketing Technology of the Republican National Committee and Trump campaign, told Party Innovation Hub participants about the factors that made Trump’s campaign successful.

How did the Republican Party use digital? What is the basis of a successful fundraising campaign? How to involve volunteers in your campaign? How can video help in this process? What is the positive impact of digital technology on the work of political parties?

Yegor Aushev, Co-Founder, Hacken, and Oleksiy Denysyuk, Cyber security consultant, Hacken told the Party Innovation Hub participants, what is cyber security; who are such “white hat” hackers and whether they can protect your system from the “black hat” hackers violations; what are the cyber threats of the modern world; how the Internet users’ information is collected, and how can we protect ourselves from this.

Yaroslav Vedmid, CEO and Co-Founder Postmen, told Party Innovation Hub participants how many Ukrainians are online today; how much time they spend there, and what they do online; what content is most appreciated, and how to adapt your content to the audience’s interests; why in social media fakes are much more popular than facts; how to analyze the impact of your content on the audience; what is artificial intelligence today.

State mechanisms are outdated all over the world. The world has technologically exceeded all the traditional political systems of representative democracy. Now, any person on the planet has no need in parliaments, or in various kinds of deputies and other authorities – the bulky state structures, or the multimillion army of officials. Now it is possible to own a remote control of the State Service of the People in your smartphone. What services should be provided instead the variety of state functions? What will Ukraine look in future? – Sergiy Gaiday, Director of Strategical Planning of Social Engineering Agency “Gaiday.com”, discussed these issues with Party Innovation Hub participants.

Oleksandr Bondarenko, Head of Special Projects at Digital Communications Agency “Reputation Management Agency” told Party Innovation Hub participants about the general trends in social media; about what kind of content is most popular; how Ukrainians read news in social networks; which sites are the most visited; which social media and messengers are most popular among Ukrainians; what are the secrets of creating successful content; how to use big data.

What are the interrelationships between the peculiarities of the organization of human psyche and the political process? How did politics affect cognitive evolution? How do processes in our brain affect our perceptions of politics and politics itself? What are the latest achievements of neurosciences in their projection on the specific characteristics of the political life of humans? – Denys Poltavets, an expert on civil society development, told the participants of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies.

Discussion of the participants of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies on local development as a driver of transformations in the country with Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv Mayor.

People tend to believe that politics and morality are incompatible each other. This tradition dates back to Machiavelli. The polar opposite position is that of Kant: people in their behavior must be guided by moral motives rather than practical needs (moral imperative). Not every successful policy is highly moral, but any immoral policy is devastating. Ukrainian realities provide a lot of illustrations of the devastating effects of immoral power. Is moral politics possible in Ukraine? Can politics be moral? Should we talk about a moral movement? – these are the topics raised by Myroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector for University Mission, Ukrainian Catholic University, in his conversation with the School participants.

How does the church issue affect the electoral choice in the history of Ukraine? Why do politicians occasionally try to play a religious card on the eve of the election? Why does country with Hyperloop proving ground need a charter of the church presiding officer? How not to build own Russian Orthodox Church in a hybrid war with Russia? – Andriy Andrushkiv, Head of the Department of Public Policy and Advocacy, NGO Centre UA, USPS Alumnus, discussed these issues with USPS participants.

The Soviet secret services are covered with a halo of mysteries and myths. Opening up their archives is invaluable for qualitative historical research, because it is through them that we can establish real events and facts, and get rid of mythology. The open archives of the Soviet secret services are a fence that makes it impossible to return to the Soviet past, showing the crime of Soviet government and the communist regime. What secrets contain the archives of the Soviet secret services? Why open archives are important for modern Ukraine? – Ruslan Zabily, Director of the National Memorial Museum of Victims of the Occupation Regimes “Tyurma na Lontskoho” in Lviv, told participants of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies.

There are more than 300 political parties in Ukraine. However, how many of them can actually be called a political party? The growing importance of “all-embracing” parties is characterized by appealing directly to social groups, the increasing role of leadership groups and the personalization of politics, an increase of the influence of the groups of interest on party politics, the blurring boundaries of the parties’ social base, diminishing role of the ideological factor in developing party strategies and programs. How can Ukrainian parties be characterized? How do they position themselves before the elections? How do they build a voter relationship? – Anatoliy Romanyuk, Ph.D., Head of the Political Science Department of Ivan Franko Lviv National University, told USPS participants.

We live in the 21st century, when women and men in a Ukrainian democratic society enjoy equal rights and opportunities, equal access to political life, equal pay and professions of their choice. Is this myth or reality in modern Ukraine? Empirical tendencies show a deepening of differences between women and men who enjoy the same rights de jure and de facto. What are the ongoing challenges for achieving gender equality in Ukraine? – Marcin Walecki, D.phil, Head of the ODIHR Democratization Department, discussed these issues with participants of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies.

Usually it is believed that the quality of government decisions depends primarily on the quality of the people who take them. As a result, the unsuccessful policy of the Government is explained mainly by subjective factors: “wrong people in government” and the proposed solutions are reduced to replacing their predecessors with successors. However, is it enough to change people in order to change the quality of decision-making? What else should we change fundamentally? How is this related to the ongoing reform of public governance? – Oleksiy Honcharuk, Ph.D., Head of the Office of Effective Regulation (BRDO), USPS Alumnus, explained these issues to USPS participants.

In oligarchic state only a small group of wealthy people, who also rule the state, has a limited access to the benefits created by whole society. Douglass North called such state a state with limited access. Such access to goods is realized in Ukraine. In democracies, access to wealth has a much wider group of people – the middle class. Maidan of Dignity carried out an anti-oligarchic revolution – a leap from the oligarchic state with limited access to a democratic state with wide access. What was the purpose of Maidan of Dignity? What is happening in Ukraine: a social revolution, a civil war of a middle class with an oligarch, or a Putin aggression? – Taras Vozniak, Editor-in-Chief of the Ї journal, discussed these issues with the participants of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies.

So far, Ukraine’s development strategy was the snail’s strategy: “slow, but confident.” We need to make a jump. In addition to the political, the jump should have a humanitarian dimension. Economic changes cannot occur without the change of the core society values. Those who come to power for the sake of reform can accelerate this process in order to prepare society for a jump. In Ukraine, with the appearance of new values’ bearers, the conditions for such a jump have matured. What are the values ​​of modern Ukrainian society? What is needed for the “jump”? How can we overcome history and move forward? – Yaroslav Hrytsak, Ph.D., Professor of the Ukrainian Catholic University, member of the Nestor group, told USPS participants.

Its participants have an opportunity to discuss the main challenges facing the world, as well as the interaction of Ukraine with its partners. They will take on the experience of leading international and Ukrainian politicians, experts, businessmen and statesmen. This year, regional civil servants, civil society representatives, and participants of the national TV project “New Leaders”, who were selected after an all-Ukrainian competition, joined the Forum.

The speakers of the Forum were Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine; Oleksandr Bogutsky, Director-President of the ICTV TV channel; Gennadiy Zubko, Vice-Prime-Minister, Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine; Ray Kurzweil, American inventor and futurist; Condoleezza Rice, 66th United States Secretary of State (2005-2009); Andriy Illarionov, Senior fellow in the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute; Hernando de Soto, President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy; Alastair McBain, Executive Director of Arawak Energy; Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, MP of Ukraine; Michael McFaul, Professor at Stanford University, Senior Researcher at the Hoover Institution, US Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014); Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France (2014-2016); Anatoliy Grytsenko, Leader of the Civic Position party, Defense Minister of Ukraine (2005-2007); Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament (2002-2004).

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, told the civil servants about the the difficulties and daily challenges of working as Vice-Prime-Minister.  She noticed that coordinating different departments is the most difficult part of her job, since historically different departments were not accustomed to cooperate with each other, and there was no tradition of interagency coordination.

Vice-Prime-Minister noted that last year Ukraine managed to enter the brightest page in the biography of integration into the European Union. Starting from June 11, 2017, Ukrainians felt the benefits of one of the fundamental European freedoms – freedom of visa-free travel to the EU. More than a million Ukrainian citizens have already taken advantage of a visa-free stay and felt the effect of European norms and standards. “I am convinced that the Association Agreement and the visa-free travel are a watershed between the European future and the Soviet past of Ukraine”, said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

She stressed that the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine should be carried out of political fight. National interests cannot be the subject of political speculation and manipulation. The rates are too high and the risks are too obvious.

(Source: https://bit.ly/2IBIpKT)

Gennadiy Zubko, Vice-Prime-Minister, Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, told the Forum participants about the smart specialization of regional development. He shared the experience, which European states introduce to strengthen their communities in order not to preserve their economies in a regional aspect, but to think what can be added in the future.

Energy saving is one of the most urgent issues for Ukraine, since the issue of energy efficiency is a security issue in Ukraine. When we talk about the independence of the country, first of all, we talk about its energy independence. This is not only a matter of increasing the extraction of natural resources, but the question of saving the energy we consume, both private consumers and enterprises.

Smart-specialization involves identification of the region’s competitive advantages and assets, use of its innovative and scientific potential, and consolidation the human resource. Strategy formation below in close cooperation and dialogue between government, business, science and community is a significant feature of smart-specialization.

Six steps to develop regional strategies for smart-specialization: 1. Analysis of regional potential for innovation; 2. Establishing a reliable management structure; 3. Developing a common vision for the future of the region; 4. Choice of a limited number of regional development priorities; 5. Creating an appropriate policy combination; 6. Integration of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

(Source: https://bit.ly/2Q2Pern)

Michael McFaul, Professor at Stanford University, Senior Researcher at the Hoover Institution, US Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014)

The Russian elites will split after President Putin leaves his office and the transfer of power to another will not be a smooth process, says Michael McFaul.

McFaul added that an attempt to hand over the power to other members of the security agencies will not gain support from all the members of the Russian elite. “The Russians won’t go for Bortnikov or Patrushev. There were twenty years of “Putinism”, and now they promise another twenty years of the same course but without that charisma and luck Putin has had? I think it would be very difficult to hand over the reins of power to the security agencies”, McFaul concluded.

(Source: https://bit.ly/2P8B4Vp)

Anatoliy Grytsenko, Leader of the Civic Position party, Defense Minister of Ukraine (2005-2007), said that building a successful Ukraine requires an effective protection of citizens’ rights, freedoms and property.

He stressed that in order to protect citizens’ rights, fair justice should be put in place in the first instance, the anti-corruption bloc function should be improved, the Anti-Monopoly Committee should be reformed and boosted, and the State’s monopoly over use of force should be restored.

(Source: https://bit.ly/2QrJTd9)

Condoleezza Rice, 66th Secretary of State of the United States (2005-2009), stressed that the US political system is built in such a way that it remains stable and balanced under any president.

At the same time, Condoleezza Rice believes that there is a range of issues in the United States that give grounds for populism and require addressing.

(Source: https://bit.ly/2DVAadU)

Ray Kurzweil, American inventor and futurist

According to Ray Kurzweil, the human life may be prolonged, and the capacity of the brain may be much extended thanks to the use of artificial intellect.

Also, the inventor believes that thanks to the new technologies, such common domains of life will get automated in the near future as agriculture: it will become possible to use up to 90% of soils that are not cultivated now.

(Source: https://bit.ly/2QqQZyu)

Photo: YES © 2018. Maksym Nesterenko