Odessa Oblast: Governor Saakashvili’s superficial changes

Abstract:

Two years after the Revolution of Dignity, Odessa Oblast, one of Ukraine’s key regions in economic and political terms, was still strongly polarised as regards its residents’ views on the future of their country. The political circles rooted in the Party of Regions maintained their influence to a great extent due to increasing dissatisfaction with the central government’s activity and with the economic crisis which strongly affected the public.

Politicians linked to the ancien régime remained the most important political players. Some pro-Ukrainian circles pinned their hopes for change in the region on the nomination of the former Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, for governor of Odessa Oblast on 30 May 2015. At the beginning of his rule this politician made widely publicised promises to combat corruption, to improve the quality of the administration services, to develop infrastructure and to attract foreign capital.

However, more than half a year since he assumed office, it was difficult to speak about any spectacular successes in reforming the region. Saakashvili became above all a player on the national forum, supporting the presidential camp in their struggle with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, among others. However, his nomination made Odessa Oblast more important for Ukraine, above all in political and symbolic terms. This was because Odessa Oblast was the best manifestation of the condition of the Ukrainian state two years since the Revolution of Dignity – rudimentary reforms or no reforms at all, strong resistance to any changes from the administration, strong local political-business connections, the lack of consolidation among post-Maidan groups and corruption inherent in the system.