Long Road to the Top: Groysman’s Journey to Prime Minister
Ten years ago the citizens of Vinnytsia, an oblast capital in west-central Ukraine and the home of President Poroshenko’s business empire, elected Volodymyr Groysman, 28, as mayor. The young politician came from a business background — he was commercial director of his father’s market Yunist since the age of 16. It is said that Poroshenko, an oblast coordinator for the Our Ukraine party at the time, helped Groysman achieve the high position, just like he helped him become Prime Minister now.
For many years Groysman has been a younger political partner to Poroshenko. However, tough negotiation between the two men about appointments for the Cabinet of Ministers proved that Groysman doesn’t just want to be ‘the President’s boy’ anymore.
On Monday, April 11, Groysman announced he was ready to refuse the Prime Minister’s office in protest at candidates from Petro Poroshenko Bloc being imposed in ministerial positions. On Tuesday morning he provided a list of those whom he wished to see in the new Cabinet of Ministers. On Wednesday, the bargaining was done, and the new composition of the Cabinet was finalized. And although Groysman didn’t manage to take all ‘his friends’ on board, his personal value as a negotiator in the political market was evident.
Younger Political Partner
Election of Groysman for mayor at such a young age in 2006 became possible because he received public support from the presidential party Our Ukraine and its representative in the region, Petro Poroshenko.
It is said that the local political elite trusted him with governing the city because of his father, Borys Groysman. In the 1990s he transformed from blue collar worker to successful businessman, and has maintained friendships with previous mayors and oblast governors, which allowed him to run his business operations smoothly.
First as mayor, and later as Verkhovna Rada Speaker, Groysman ensured that he had political control over Vinnytsia city council. During the 2010 election, the Party of Regions got 50% in Vinnytsia oblast council, but only 10% at the city council. However, a little-known local party called "Ukraine’s Conscience" (Ukr: Sovist Ukrayiny) received 66%. This party was Groysman’s pet political project.
In 2015, a month before local elections, Groysman presented a new party, Vinnytsia European Strategy. And again, it placed first in the election race, beating even Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the party that got Groysman into the Verkhovna Rada. Ruslan Shtorhin, a local Vinnytsia political analyst, is convinced that citizens responded to the new political project of their former mayor so well because they perceived it as an affiliate of Petro Poroshenko Bloc. After all, with another party winning the election, now nobody could accuse the President of ‘privatizing’ the city.
Exemplary Mayor
As mayor, Groysman had some tangible achievements. Even back in the times of Yushchenko’s presidency, Vinnytsia was considered one of the few outposts of change in the country, and officials from all over Ukraine came there for inspiration.
In 2008, Groysman opened a transparent office in city hall — a center for administrative services where Vinnytsia citizens can comfortably receive social services and certificates. Later, three more offices like this were opened in the city.
Also, Groysman introduced power saving street lights, and reformed the heat supply system. Thanks to loan funding he managed to organize the repair of roads. Between 2007 and 2011, Vinnytsia received more than 100 used trams from Zurich.
In his eight years as mayor, Groysman attracted more than ₴700 million of non-refundable investments, which approximately equaled the average annual budget of the city at the time. One of the biggest investors was President Petro Poroshenko, who gave ₴80 million for the reconstruction of the embankment and the erection of the only floating music fountain in Ukraine, the so-called Roshen fountain.
Some local politicians said that the attraction was a sign of gratitude from Poroshenko for obtaining a construction plot for a Roshen plant almost two times cheaper than the market price in 2008. However, in reality the fountain cost 15 times more than the land plot.
In 2013, Groysman presented the city development strategy until 2020, which was supported by the city council. Groysman’s goal was to turn Vinnytsia into a ‘smile city’ whose citizens would be smiling because they felt good about their lives. However, since being appointed Deputy Prime Minister in 2014 and later moving on to become the Speaker of Verkhovna Rada after being elected an MP for Petro Poroshenko Bloc, he hasn’t been able to take part in the implementation of the strategy himself.
The Mayor’s Tarnished Reputation
Groysman’s campaign against a street market in Vinnytsia was perceived differently. Some people say that the mayor himself was an interested party in it, and his actions looked like getting rid of competitors.
In 1994, the mayor’s father Borys Groysman created Yunist market on a rented plot of land, where his son Volodymyr used to work as commercial director. Immediately after Volodymyr Groysman became mayor, the plot of land rented from the city became property of Yunist.
In 2009, Magigrand, a modern shopping mall, was erected where the market used to be. The story of its construction is used as a political line of attack against Groysman.
According to journalistic investigation of Nashi Groshi, in 2007 Yunist company took a loan of ₴10.8 million from Kredytprombank secured by the building of the shopping mall and the land plot it stands on. Yunist never paid the loan back, but in 2009 announced its bankruptcy.
The right for debt collection has been sold many times, but finally the debt became the problem of the state, and therefore Ukrainian taxpayers. At the same time, the shopping mall remains property of the wealthy Groysman family. One of the founders of Magigrand Ltd. is Olena Groysman, the wife of the Prime Minister, and Emlyn Solutions Limited, a London company that has the same director as Ontario Productions Limited, which was a co-founder of Yunist right before it announced bankruptcy.
At the Steering Wheel of the Verkhovna Rada
As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development,Construction and Housing and Communal Services, Groysman was expected to solve a number of infrastructural problems, using his experience of governing Vinnytsia. However, it turned out he had no instruments to do anything without the corresponding legislation.
Groysman was lobbying for decentralization reform and creating prefectures that would represent the President in the regions. He also simplified a number of bureaucratic procedures required for getting the authorities’ sign-off on a completed construction object. In nine months after his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, Groysman became the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada.
The Verkhovna Rada nurtured Groysman’s growing ambitions. Many of his colleagues think that in his role as a Speaker he often crossed the line. The deputies said they had to beg him to put their bills up for voting. Some of them also feel they were disrespected when the texts of bills were posted online as late as on the night prior to the scheduled voting, which is against the rules, and the deputies had no time to properly acquaint themselves with them. During Groysman’s time as Speaker, bills were often put up for voting in batches and by the simplified procedure. Voting was scheduled numerous times — more than is provided by the rules — and if certain bills did not get passed, efforts continued until they were.
Before his appointment as Prime Minister, Groysman’s colleagues seemed to think that everything he was doing was in the interests of President Poroshenko. However, by negotiating appointments to the Cabinet, Groysman wants to show that Poroshenko is no more than a political ally for him.
Some political experts think that it is his way to prepare for the future parliamentary election, as the support of Petro Poroshenko Bloc that got him to the Verkhovna Rada the previous time is much reduced.
What to Expect from Groysman as Prime Minister?
At the Presidential Administration they call Groysman a ‘stabilizer Prime Minister.’ Sources there say that the country shouldn’t fear early elections while he is in this position, as he has the quality to build relationships with everyone. This is what some of the ex-members of the Party of Regions are hoping for — someone who would not be trying to break the system, but would try to stabilize it. This actually makes the Prime Minister’s chair looks like a Procrustean bed.
Political analyst Taras Berezovets says, "Groysman has no time for a slow start. He needs to show results from the get-go. Tensions in society are high — people are waiting for achievements in the sphere of counter-corruption reform, tax legislation, and want clearer perspectives on European integration."
MP from Petro Poroshenko Bloc Serhiy Leshchenko thinks that the new government will have carte blanche, but won’t last long because of corruption scandals. Leshchenko says it will depend on the political will of the Presidential Administration entirely — and there is no wish to wage a war on corruption there.
Having declared he was an independent player, Groysman now has to prove he can open transparent offices, repair roads, and run trams not only in Vinnytsia. People close to him say that he already sees himself a future president. In his inauguration speech as Prime Minister, Groysman said "I’ll show you how to run a state."
Original article by Mariana Pietsukh, Anastasiya Ringis. Translated by Tetiana Vodianytska.
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