“Risks: mistrust of mobilization, authorities.” Economic reservation will split society into rich and poor — Kochel

Why reservation is a question of justice and what negative consequences the proposed model can have for society, political scientist Oleksiy Koshel told Radio NV.

I have great confidence in Venislavskyi’s statements. This is one of the few pragmatic, clear voices, as of today, in the monomajority. It is worth listening to his position – without falsehood, without a PR component and without anything else.

But why do we now see many statements about economic reservation — there are speculations from people’s deputies and business representatives? The main reason is that until today the authorities have not developed clear, understandable reservation mechanisms.

I will remind you that at the end of March and the beginning of April this year there was another wave of scandals related to mobilization and reservation. Because at that time preparations were underway for legislation on mobilization, and we remember that there were scandals and a feeling of despair.

And then there was a statement by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. He directed the line ministries to bring updated decisions on fair reservation in the near future. I try to speak as close to the text as possible, and I even looked – I have this immortal quote written down. You know, I waited a long time then. In both April and May, I didn’t see any new fair booking rules. More precisely, there is a mechanism (of these one and a half million [військовозобов’язаних] still reserved), it was developed by someone, but it remains, it seems to me, unknown not only to the vast majority, but even to the deputy corps. Who was booked, what were the booking approaches?

If we talk about fair reservation, again quoting the Prime Minister, it means that the society should get a reaction, should see that this reservation is really fair. That the master of specific refrigeration units (this profession is very difficult to teach someone else) should get a booking or an orchestra conductor who needs to be trained for more than 10 years. There should be an explanation, there should be logic, there should be a discussion, at least comprehensibility. Now there is no such thing.

And the lack of such a reaction on the part of the government imposes another. On the fact that there are reservation initiatives tied to a high level of wages.

And here there can be a very big problem, because the deputies, when they made statements about the economic reservation tied to the salary, spoke first of all about the benefits for the budget. They talked about several billion dollars that we can get already next year.

But there is a question not only of currency, there is a question of risks. Mobilization in our country is now taking place with great difficulty – here I am speaking extremely softly. And if we now create a so-called caste of untouchables (and agree that they will book not only highly qualified employees, without whom business will be difficult), such a mechanism will allow to book anyone who takes cash out of his pocket and formally registers for work, will pay for himself. Then we will split society into rich and poor. And the consequences in such a case can no longer be predicted in monetary terms, and the consequences can only be predicted in the category of risks.

I personally see that the risk of such an ill-conceived booking can be very, very serious. This is a split in society, this is mistrust of the process of mobilization and power… And then, to be honest, I’m even afraid to make a logical connection.

If we talk about justice, we have to remember the stories with the United States, with Muhammad Ali and the consequences when he refused to be mobilized – he was stripped of his championship belts, in particular; about Elvis Presley, who was forced as a world-famous singer to take a machine gun and join the army. If we are talking about justice, then these are just such examples.

And here, after all, the discussion is not about justice, but about money signs. Therefore, we can expect very serious risks.