The head of the Presidential Administration, Boris Lozhkin, and his subordinates have not generated anything new in their first year of work.
Boris Lozhkin
Analyzing the performance of the Presidential Administration, particularly its head and deputies, one can clearly see that Ukraine has not seen any significant achievements or successes from their work, or even progress in any area.
None of the deputy heads of the Administration—not Valery Chaly, not Dmitry Shimkiv , not Alexey Filatov, not even Boris Lozhkin himself—have any significant “victories” in the area of state building to their credit to date.
Incidentally, the figure of Boris Lozhkin is a striking example of the failure of an anti-oligarchic revolution in Ukraine. The main levers of influence remain in the hands of the same oligarchs. Lozhkin thrived under all previous presidents and fits perfectly into Poroshenko's team.
Chalyi's "achievements" include the EU's blatant and blunt rejection of the widely announced and long-awaited visa-free regime for Ukrainians. In fact, the Ukraine-EU summit was a telling example of European fatigue with the Ukrainian government's empty promises of reform.
In fact, the President's team failed the reform test. It was clear that Poroshenko, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and EU President Donald Tusk were speaking "different languages."
In this regard, information has already emerged about replacing Chaly. A possible candidate is Konstantin Yeliseyev. Although he is associated with Yanukovych's staff, this doesn't seem to bother the President much. Yeliseyev is currently Ukraine's representative to the European Union, so, given his competence, he could easily replace Chaly as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration. Chaly, in turn, will likely become Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States after the Eastern Partnership summit, which will take place in Riga on May 21 and 22.
The situation with reforms in the Presidential Administration and elsewhere is dire. It's difficult to call what's happening in the judicial system, law enforcement, the electoral system, the fight against corruption, lustration, and so on "reforms." There are simply no "successes or breakthroughs." Almost all EU partners, including Ukraine's most loyal European "advocate," Poland, have unanimously noted this. Filatov deserves credit for this.
The lack of local (let alone large-scale) investment projects in the country is a "C" for Dmitry Shimkiv.
Vitaliy Kovalchuk also failed to perform effectively as First Deputy Head of the Administration. He should be held accountable for his missteps in regional policy. Although he is a member of the President's inner circle (he was a member of parliament in the 7th and 8th convocations, until recently served as deputy chairman of the BPP faction, and headed Petro Oleksiyovych's campaign during the presidential elections), being the President's man is not a profession. It's unlikely that many Ukrainians even know about this First Deputy Head of the Administration, let alone are aware of his performance in the post.
Summing up the work of this constellation of officials, we can state:
Firstly, they did not strengthen the President’s team and did not make it effective.
Secondly, the level and range of tasks set before them requires strategic and systemic thinking and the ability to find unconventional solutions, for which they were not prepared.
And thirdly, the work of these individuals has had no noticeable effect on either the country or the President. Therefore, Petro Alekseevich should likely reconsider the advisability of keeping these individuals on his team. Perhaps he should consider reshuffling the leadership, replacing these random individuals, and finding someone more suitable.
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