239 “servants,” fragments of the OPZZH/Regionals, and representatives of some groups and factions voted in the first reading and handed over the draft State Budget for 2027 to the Cabinet of Ministers for revision.
The budget is what the authorities truly are, not just slogans. So don’t be misled by the fact that the government was “instructed” to increase payments to the military and even cancel “cashbacks.” The government will ignore these “instructions,” and the budget will continue to allow Volodymyr Zelensky to flirt with his voters (even though elections aren’t in the air) and give bribes to rear security forces (to terrorize opponents, exploit business and guarantee the inviolability of the “dynasty”).
All this will have to be corrected next year. Because there is no money. And without changing the management style of the “dynasty,” they won’t even be given.
I spoke about this in the Verkhovna Rada. Whether they want to or not, they have to hear.
But the price of these lessons will be too high for Ukraine. The 2019 experiment continues to reap sad harvests.
The co-chair of the European Solidarity faction, Iryna Herashchenko, after the adoption of the draft State Budget for 2027 in the first reading, stated that it is a budget of poverty and disaster. As known, the “ES” faction demanded that 515 billion UAH instead of non-targeted expenses be directed to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the budget committee did not consider a single amendment.
“Just now, 239 MPs voted in the first reading for the budget. Yesterday, we witnessed an unprecedented phenomenon in the Ukrainian parliament because the “servants” themselves, the ruling party, criticized this budget, characterizing it as a budget of poverty, a budget of inadequacy, a disaster budget, a budgetary failure. And they did this at the committee chairs level, specifically at the social committee,” said Herashchenko.
“Unfortunately, not a single amendment from ‘European Solidarity’ was accepted, and we’re talking about 515 billion hryvnias that we found from non-essential budget items. And it’s not just about the propaganda marathon,” said the deputy.
“Even the ‘Servants’ themselves, who later voted for this budget, acknowledge that there is a colossal gap in salaries. On one hand, there are prosecutors, the State Bureau of Investigation, supervisory boards of unprofitable state enterprises that receive hundreds of millions of hryvnias per month. Meanwhile, 99% of Ukrainians remain below the poverty line,” says Herashchenko.
“This budget still contains 5 billion for the so-called ‘Thousand’, and it is not going to support small library and museum projects in district centers, which, by the way, did not even have time to evacuate, but will again go to positive bloggers of Bankova. The most frightening thing is that this budget kills decentralization. They are trying to rob local communities, onto which new expenses are being shifted. This includes schools, kindergartens, and hospitals. And that’s why our faction supported the increase in the personal income tax that remains in the regions,” said Herashchenko.
“Now for healthcare. For 7 years, this government has not revised the packages of the National Health Service of Ukraine. Therefore, doctors receive 20,000, nurses 12,000, and orderlies 8,000. Young people do not want to go into medical facilities after finishing medical universities. If we do not review the NHSU packages, we will lose the sector. The situation is equally critical in the education sector,” the deputy states.
“‘European Solidarity’ will simply block the adoption of the budget if the directive voted on to the government today isn’t included, raising financial support for the military. If there is no revised approach to regions and increasing personal income tax to 64% for communities. If the salaries of educators in the cultural sector are not reviewed, because librarians now receive a salary of 5,000 hryvnias. If there is no respect for the regions, which today are responsible for all expenses,” warned the co-chair of the faction.
As is known, ‘European Solidarity’ demands the removal from the 2027 State Budget draft of all populist and corrupt expenditure items. Instead, released funds should be directed exclusively towards defense and strengthening the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to party leader Petro Poroshenko, reallocating non-targeted expenditures will enable at least half a trillion hryvnias to be additionally directed to the army.
“Our demands are specific: at least 500 billion hryvnias of additional resources for the military, for the purchase of weapons, defense technologies; 30 percent of military personal income tax directly to brigades. Indexation of financial support; protection of energy and economy; cancellation of non-priority and propaganda expenses; fulfillment of European commitments and restoration of allies’ trust,” notes Poroshenko.
