The team of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky announced the launch of the Social Lift project, which is designed to find professionals to carry out reforms in the country. This was reported on the headquarters of the head of state on Facebook.

“The social elevator is open! It's time for a change! We are launching a beta version of the LIFT project, ”the statement said.

It is also noted that the goal of the project is to unite qualified specialists who could “ensure positive changes in the country and its integrated socio-economic and cultural development”.

According to the creators of the project, “absolutely everyone” can join it. They also expect that the “innovative platform LIFT” will change Ukraine and allow representatives of the people to share useful ideas for resolving sensitive issues in the country - the relevant applications are invited to be submitted electronically. The Zelensky team suggests that this "will bring positive changes at the state level."

The project website states that “LIFT” will become part of the implementation of election promises of the Ukrainian leader.

“During the election campaign, we talked a lot about the changes. The first step is made - we won! Now it's time to destroy the old system, ”the message says.

The project will allegedly create equal conditions for the selection of candidates wishing to join the Zelensky team, as well as make an honest and transparent selection of specialists “without corruption and bureaucratic components,” according to the initiators of LIFT.

“We have brought together the best recruiting companies and specialists who will closely monitor the selection process,” the statement said.

Recall that in mid-May, Zelensky met with representatives of international recruitment agencies to discuss possible cooperation in the selection of candidates for government posts.

According to the President of Ukraine, it is not very easy to find “the best specialists who have high competencies and are focused on specific results.”

According to the president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko, Zelensky’s statements and the promises of his team are more like populism than a real desire to find people from the people who are able to carry out reforms in the country.

“Even to a very undemanding person, it’s clear that this project is frankly stupid, like most of what the Ukrainian leader has been saying lately. To carry out reforms, it is necessary to have a certain experience of state activity. You can’t change what you don’t know and manage what you don’t understand. It is not clear from which segments of the population and how he is going to recruit reformers, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

"Disappointment will come"

The new project of the Zelensky team will not be effective, since it will not allow selecting specialists who could perform specific political tasks, Rostislav Ischenko believes.

“If we hold a competition, then we need to talk about a certain reform and put forward strict, precise requirements for candidates, and not declare that anyone can send applications, and Zelensky will consider them. We need to focus on a certain segment and look not at everyone, but at those who are truly an expert in their field, ”explained the expert.

According to Ishchenko, instead of creating such projects, the Ukrainian leader would be worth recognizing his “personnel failure.”

“Zelensky went to power with the team and convinced that he had specialists who would be responsible for certain areas of activity and change the situation in the country. And now it turns out that the elected president does not even have such personnel. In this case, he needs to resign and apologize, admit that he has deceived his electorate, ”the expert stated.

According to the RT source in the Radical Party, the new project of the Zelensky team is a political move before the parliamentary elections, which probably “was prompted to by Kolomoisky’s entourage”.

“Vladimir Zelensky has not yet understood that Ukrainian politics and economics is not a show. Ukrainians will be happy to write their ideas and will be glad that they were heard. But soon the population will understand that no one intends to implement their initiatives. And then disappointment will come, ”said the source.

A similar opinion is shared by the representative of the Popular Front Party.

“The names of all the strongest Ukrainian economists and political scientists are well known. What does Zelensky offer? Appoint the Minister of Economy and send to negotiate with the IMF, a person who simply submit an application on the site? How does Zelensky check the “innovation” of an expert? Invite experts from the US and the EU? And who in general will read thousands of these statements? Zelensky doesn’t have enough people, and to upload them with such work is the highest level of unprofessionalism, ”the source said.

All initiatives of Zelensky after the inauguration, including the holding of a competition for places in his team, are secondary - they do not address the main problems, the solution of which would change the deplorable situation of Ukrainians, said political scientist Alexander Dudchak.

“The President of Ukraine continues the path of his predecessor, Poroshenko, both in foreign and domestic policy. In the future, the Ukrainian economy will only get worse, so it’s unclear what kind of “vacancies” we can talk about - there are fewer and fewer jobs, and the most active and talented people are leaving abroad. This is all talk, designed to divert attention, "- said the expert.

  • Ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko
  • Reuters
  • © Mykhailo Markiv / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Candidates selected

According to analysts, the project of the Zelensky team for the selection of specialists for reforms in Ukraine is more like a profanation, than on the real mechanism, since the Ukrainian leader has already proposed candidates for key government posts.

Thus, a whole number of appointments followed last week: Alexander Danilyuk became the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andrei Bogdan became the head of the presidential administration, Ivan Bakanov, the first deputy head of the Security Service, founder of the Servant Nation party, and "Quarter 95". Zelensky appointed the president’s representative in the country's government to Andrei Gerus, an expert on his energy team, and the position of chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was occupied by Lieutenant-General Ruslan Homchak.

  • Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Homchak (left) and President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky (right)
  • © Press service of the President of Ukraine

As the RT source notes, surrounded by the president of Ukraine, Zelensky is trying to create an image of an innovator for himself, while he himself has already decided who will occupy key state goslings in the country.

“This is another of his initiatives that will help to“ hear everyone. ” But there will be no practical result, since people for the most part do not know what to do. This is an election game, which is designed to improve the rating of the party "Servant of the People", said the source.

Recall that innovations Zelensky talked a lot at the last forum in Kiev, “The Guarantor of Innovations: Creating the Future Together.”

“Innovations make all processes transparent and efficient, thereby depriving officials of unclean means of subsistence,” the president of Ukraine stated.

"Image" solution

Having arranged a competition for state posts, Zelensky is trying to improve his image, experts say. Recall that the Supreme Court receives claims with a demand to cancel the edicts of the elected president on new appointments and the dissolution of the Rada.

On the eve, the Supreme Court of Ukraine registered two claims on the annulment of a presidential decree, in which Zelensky appoints Andriy Bogdan as head of his administration.

“The Cassation Administrative Court within the Supreme Court received two claims for invalidation and repeal of the presidential decree of Ukraine of 21.05.2019 No. 304/2019“ On the appointment of A. Bogdan as the head of the presidential administration of Ukraine, ”the court said departments in Facebook.

It is noted that the lawsuit was filed by the organization Public Lustration Committee.

  • Supreme Court of Ukraine
  • Reuters
  • © Valentyn Ogirenko

In addition, last week the Supreme Court of Ukraine received a statement of claim, demanding to recognize Zelensky’s decree dissolving the Rada unlawful and invalid. According to the ministry, the lawsuit was filed by an individual on May 23.

The start of the project for the selection of specialists to the Zelensky team is an “image-based” decision, largely designed to smooth out the situation around the claims filed with the Supreme Court, said Alexander Dudchak.

“In Ukraine, there is a struggle between oligarchs and political forces, which practically have no differences in the perception of the world and their roles within the country. For them, the Ukrainian state is a source of profit, they solve issues related to personal enrichment. Deputies and politicians are now simply replaced by other figures. However, their functions will remain the same, these permutations will not change anything, ”the expert concluded.