The “European Solidarity” faction calls for a cap on the wages of state officials during the war – they cannot earn more than the military on the front lines. This was stated by the leader of the party, Petro Poroshenko, at a briefing dedicated to the preparation of the state budget project for next year.
He noted that the government budgets a significant salary increase for itself and the security forces, while there is not enough money for the army, and corruption scandals are increasingly demotivating society.
“Funding of the Verkhovna Rada increased by 26%. The President’s office, like the Verkhovna Rada, did not offend itself by increasing funding by more than 11% in the draft budget. The third is the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine – an almost 20% increase in funding. The fourth is expenses for the prosecutor’s office. “The poor,” “unfortunate disabled people” who work in the prosecutor’s office receive huge pensions; this is not enough for them, and they increased their funding by more than 25%,” Poroshenko was indignant.
“We insist and have introduced a corresponding amendment to limit wages in the country – so that no official has the opportunity to receive more than a soldier at the front. Today, a soldier’s salary is 100-120 thousand hryvnias. So, in the country, there cannot be a salary higher than 120,000. We used a similar approach during COVID, but now the situation is much more dangerous,” Poroshenko states.
“Judges, heads of offices, secretariats of the parliament, the government, members of supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises, ministers, employees of regulators receive much more than a soldier who, risking his life and health, is at the front. Do you think our amendment was supported? This amendment was not supported,” Poroshenko notes.
He also drew attention to the fact that, due to the large number of refugees, the population of Ukraine has decreased, and for some reason, the expenses on the state apparatus are only increasing: “If on January 1, 2022, there were 42 million people in Ukraine, then according to statistics for July 2024, the figure is barely 30 million. The population decreased by a third, and wages increased twice. And salaries are not soldiers. Because, unfortunately, there were no funds for this in the state,” says Poroshenko.
As you know, previously Petro Poroshenko and Eurosolidarity MPs proposed other sources for filling the State Budget. According to the proposals of the “EU”, all non-targeted expenses should be reduced, and the funds of the military levy should be directed exclusively to the needs of the army. “Our proposals make it possible to reduce expenses and mobilize revenues by 170 billion hryvnias – without increasing the tax burden on poor people. We propose to reduce expenditures by 105 billion and to increase state budget revenues by 65 billion,” said Poroshenko. Today, the budget committee rejected the opposition’s amendments, Nina Yuzhanina reported.
“We will fight for every amendment. We will fight to protect Ukraine. Because now the importance of effective actions in the Verkhovna Rada is no less than the importance of actions at the front,” Poroshenko is convinced.