Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko approved the new structure of his administration

Poroshenko provided Boris Lozhkin unlimited substituents

Photo: Unian

The Presidential Administration of Ukraine is anticipating a downsizing of staff and management and the strengthening of the role of the deputy heads of the PA. They will not only assume the functions of department heads, but also those of the Presidential Chief-of-Staff Borys Lozhkin.

All the power to the chief-of-staff deputies

Yesterday, Decree No. 592 “On Issues of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine”, by virtue of which President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the revamped structure of the AP and the marginal number of the administration’s employees, was published on the president’s official website. Compared to the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych, this document envisages the downsizing of the staff of civil servants by nearly 20% and a considerable downsizing of the administrations that from now on will be called departments, but as earlier will be divided into main and basic departments.

On the whole, the departments in the new structure are the same in designations and functions as in the administration under the presidency of Yanukovych. The difference is that the departments, which were closed, were simply renamed into divisions.

Poroshenko preserved certain changes in the structure of the AP, which were introduced in spring by the provisional administration chief Serhiy Pashynskiy. “The office of the head of the Presidential Administration, which was liquidated by Serhiy Lyovochkin, and later reestablished by Pashkynskiy, was reinstated. This office includes 20 employees engaged in the affairs of the head of the administration. Under Yanukovych they were responsible for protocol management. Besides that, another post that was earlier liquidated – namely, first aide-de-camp of the president – was reinstated. This person will have technical functions in order to not distract the head of the administration for this kind of work,” a source in the AP told Capital.

Former Deputy Head of the Presidential Secretariat Ihor Popov believes the main changes in the work of the presidential administration are associated with the strengthening of the role of the deputy head of the PA and the reduction of the influence of the heads of departments. “At the time, the heads of the departments under Yanukovych had the status of advisors to the president thanks to which they were totally independent. They had the right to sign official administrative documents and had access to other subdivisions of the PA. Now, everything comes down to the deputies of Lozhkin,” said Popov, adding that the new approaches in the PA are not likely to speed up the decision-making process.

Noteworthy is that in the new structure of the PA approved yesterday a limit to the number of assistants to the head of the administration is not indicated, while during the presidency of Yanukovych only three deputies were stipulated. Popov suggests that the number of the deputy heads of the PA Borys Lozhkin was not specified on purpose, since there will be more than three deputies. “Poroshenko already appointed four ordinary deputies under Lozhkin and it cannot be ruled out that more will be appointed,” said Popov.

Former Chair of the Presidential Secretariat Oleh Rybachuk presumes that a large number of deputies could simply blur their spheres of responsibility. “Moreover, first deputies duplicate the head of the administration by assuming his functions,” Popov told Capital.
As a reminder, MP Hennadiy Zubko and co-owner of the Myronivskiy Khliboprodukt Yuriy Kosiuk were appointed first deputies of the head of the PA. Zubko will be responsible for issues of regional policy, while Kosiuk will be responsible for the law enforcement bodies.

Ihor Hryniv, Oleksandr Chaliy, Dmytro Shymkiv and Oleh Rafalskiy were appointed deputies of the head of the PA. Hryniv will manage internal and humanitarian policy, Chaliy – international issues, Shymkiv – administrative, social and economic reforms and Rafalskiy – document processing in the PA, which he executed under ex-president Yanukovych.

Leader of the Batkivshchyna faction Serhiy Sobolev, who earlier formed the Reformy i Poryadok party (Reform and Order) with Hryniv, says his appointment is a “godsend for the PA”. “He is an excellent analyst and is well-versed in the humanitarian sphere,” Sobolev told Capital. Noteworthy is that in the electoral headquarters Hryniv was responsible for developing the strategy of the presidential election campaign. He devised the slogan “Live in a new way” and was credited for his participation in talks that forced the leader of the UDAR party Vitaliy Klitschko to back down from running in the presidential elections.

Economy is losing its influence

Rybachuk pointed to two dangerous trends that he noticed in the formation of the leadership of the PA, namely the appointment of major businessmen and the creation of a powerful foreign policy bloc that could compete with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Popov predicts that among deputies Shymkiv, who is responsible for administrative, social and economic reforms, will have the least influence. He said the former first deputy head of the PA Iryna Akimova, who managed the economic bloc, had much greater authority that Shymkiv has today. “It all comes down to the Constitution under which ex-president Yanukovych had huge powers, for example, the power to dismiss ministers. When Akimova attended the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers she could tell the president that some minister is getting in the way of reforms and he was in turn dismissed. Shymkiv does not have such authority,” Popov told Capital. He believes that downsizing of the staff of the PA is associated with the reduction in the number of employees in those departments headed by Shymkiv.

A source of Capital informed that in the foreseeable future one more deputy that will be responsible for legal matters and PR with judicial and law enforcements bodies may be appointed. “Poroshenko needs his own personal Portnov. Of course, some of the powers regarding the Ministry of Internal Affairs may be temporarily put on the shoulders of Kosiuk, but not as it pertains to the courts,” the source admits. According to the source’s information, the candidates for this position are Presidential Advisor Maryna Stavniychuk and Roman Zvarych, Head of the Legal Department of the election headquarters of Petro Poroshenko. In a telephone conversation with Capital, Zvarych said he was not offered a position in the PA.