Saakashvili is ridiculed in cartoons and called Poroshenko's big mistake
The behind-the-scenes appointment of Mikheil Saakashvili to the post of governor of the Odessa region is already being ridiculed in cartoons. And even experts loyal to the Maidan call such a personnel move a mistake by Petro Poroshenko.
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Political scientist Viktor Nebozhenko admits that Saakashvili’s appointment contradicts Petro Poroshenko’s previously announced promises about the decentralization of power.
“Poroshenko is not interested in decentralization, because it sharply infringes on his powers as president of Ukraine. Therefore, for now this is more and more talk.
Saakashvili's stay in Odessa is more like exile. He is good as a lobbyist for Ukraine in the Western world, as a person who, sitting in Kyiv, annoys Putin. But what he will do in Odessa is not clear. Most likely, he will become a character in new Odessa jokes, but solving some political problems there in terms of economic reform, the fight against smuggling, and corruption is not for Saakashvili and not for Odessa.
I think that Poroshenko simply forced Kolomoisky out of Odessa with the appointment of Saakashvili. Nothing much else will happen. We are very naive, and we try to rationalize some movements, which are most often a personnel error, and find some meaning in it.
Of course, this appointment was made without taking into account the opinion of the Odessa community. But a foreigner cannot be appointed to regional structures at all; there is no such practice in the world. Foreigners can be in the central government and departmental management - the Cabinet of Ministers, commissions, etc. But foreigners cannot be placed on any land, this is considered a crisis of the genre when a German governor commands some Russian province. Unless this is a German who knows the Russian language better than the inhabitants of this province themselves, a Russified German. But it is impossible to solemnly install just a foreigner in the province. You can hire a foreigner to a football team, to a business, even to a ministerial position. But making him the leader of some land is politically incorrect.
Therefore, I think that the appointment of Saakashvili as governor of the Odessa region is some kind of impromptu, but in fact it is a continuation of the struggle between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky. Of course, expelling Kolomoisky from Odessa is already a merit, but tomorrow Saakashvili will have to present something as governor.
Let's not forget that in Odessa there have always been complex relationships between the governor and the mayor, etc. This is a complex, European city that cannot be treated as a simple regional center. In Odessa, Saakashvili could be appointed director of a wine and cognac factory or another business. But do not make him the head of a very specific region. I did not expect such a mistake from our president. I have a good attitude towards Saakashvili, but you can’t do this,” Nebozhenko tells a PolitNavigator correspondent.
His colleague, political scientist Sergei Tolstov, believes that Saakashvili can simply become a beautiful showcase, and all processes in the region will be “steered” by the team provided by Poroshenko. However, in the end this will only result in a new conflict with the Odessa elites.
“He should have been provided with a group of managers who would handle things professionally, seize the initiative and not allow local political circles to come to their senses, mobilize and organize some kind of political opposition. But I think that this will not happen - they will provide him with some kind of apparatus, but it is unlikely to be a first-class apparatus, with the necessary qualifications.
Odessa is a specific city, so Saakashvili’s appointment will most likely not work for pacification and integration. But it has already worked as an irritant for Russia – in terms of a possible economic blockade of Transnistria,” the expert told PolitNavigator.
According to the analyst, Poroshenko, who verbally advocates decentralization, will not allow a clause on the election of governors to be included in the new Constitution of Ukraine. In fact, the oligarch president, who promised the development of freedoms from the Maidan stage, will repeat the policy of his predecessor Leonid Kuchma, who was criticized for “tightening the screws.”
“I remember well how in 1994 the Rada adopted amendments to the Constitution on regional self-government and the law on the election of heads of regional executive power. This made it possible to hold elections for the regional leadership for the only time.
But this did not last long, since Kuchma, who was elected shortly after the election of the governors, realized that he did not like this situation very much and solved this problem with the help of a constitutional treaty. He then reappointed most of those elected by his decrees, and gave some the opportunity to make a reasonable fortune by appointing them to good positions.
Therefore, I think that today it is possible to raise the issue of gubernatorial elections, but it is unrealistic from the point of view of achieving results, because this issue will not pass. Under the current parliament, the current president and the current prime minister, the idea of direct elections of heads of executive power is dead,” states Tolstov.
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