We are having an interview with Vladyslav Kaskiv, the leader of PORA, the strong political party that significantly influenced the outcome of the 2004 presidential election in Ukraine.

- Vladyslav, many political analysts have named Our Ukraine, BYT, SPU your potential allies in the future legislature. On the other hand, you have earlier rejected any cooperation with the parties having Kuchmists in their ranks. Meanwhile, there are Kuchmists on these parties’ election lists. With whom, then, are you going to create a coalition?

- We’re canvassing for a coalition to have a common vision of how Ukraine is to develop. And we’re going to enter in a coalition not because there is a nice guy Yulia, or nice guys Viktor and Petro. We’re ready to join forces with other parties only if our allies accept our plan of radical reforms which must be implemented immediately after the elections. If there is no common vision of Ukraine’s development course, the coalition makes no sense. Politicians should unite around ideas, not personalities. Leaders who will implement the plan should be named only after the unification.  

- Have you discussed the common vision on Ukraine’s future development during your recent consultations on recreating the orange coalition?

- I must admit that the issue hasn’t been given due attention during the talks.

- Don’t you agree that PORA-PRP may get a deciding vote once elected to VR? These 20 votes may prove critical in creating a majority. Given such circumstances, what will your actions be?  

- Distribution of portfolios is not our goal in the Verkhovna Rada. Quality, not quantity, has always been our forte. Even while on the campaign trail, we’re not going to tell niceties to voters, we’re giving them the sober truth – even if it scares off some voters and we don’t have such massive support as do the parties promising pies in the sky to Ukrainians. We view our every voter not as a means to make it to VR, but as a like-minded partner with whom we’re going to start building a new Ukraine after the elections.

- PORA-PRP has recently drafted the law on justice and the law on truth. Some may accuse you of using these ornate but pretty amorphous words just to lure potential voters.   

- Populist rhetorics is when one comes to the Maidan and starts yelling about downtrodden justice and one’s heroic deeds to save it. Clearly, when one drafts a law imposing criminal liability for officials for withholding information and telling lies, it is no rhetorics, it is no beating around the bush. This is our goal in the legislature. In fact, we’ve started doing this before being elected to VR. 

- These weren’t the first laws drafted by your party. You proposed other laws.

- True, our first batch of laws related to economy, it envisaged, without exaggeration, a revolution in the economic sector, offering entirely new approaches to running businesses, cutting taxes, imposing a single social tax, liberalizing economy, etc. Sadly, these drafts have not been considered by the present VR which I regard as a nightmare in Ukraine’s history.    

- Why?

- Because the present VR is anti-Ukrainian. It endorsed many harmful laws which rolled back Ukraine several years.

- Do you believe the new VR will approve these laws?

- I do believe PORA-PRP will succeed in persuading VR to urgently approve and implement the laws.  

- Whose interests does PORA-PRP represent?

- We are convinced that the state apparat should not be involved in running the economy and society. Its function is to guarantee the rule of law and equal opportunities to every person. Never should a civil servant become a boss of Ukrainians. Basically, what I’m telling you is liberal ideology. Unfortunately, it is not popular because it is so straightforward. Definitely, anyone after a position in the civil service must take an independent test. The test should be aimed at establishing professional qualities and curbing cronyism.    

PORA has repeatedly voiced this idea of using modern technologies in running the country. I mean electronic management, a computerized system operating in many countries and making it possible to track down how and by whom a law has been drafted, changed, and finally endorsed. It would spell the end to corruption.  

- Where does Klychko come into the picture?

- There exist two theoretical approcahes. The first one is when a party makes use of a brand of a like-minded politician for its easier identification. The second approach consists in relying on an iconic personality who embodies the virtues and values of a political party. I think, we are the party that needs no whitewashing or cover-up. Klychko is the embodiment of the PORA-PRP bloc.