Expert: Poroshenko's bill caused by lack of support for OCU among people
The bill on the liquidation of religious organizations is directed against the UOC, which Poroshenko cannot seize with the help of the OCU, says Andrei Zolotarev.
Petro Poroshenko and his party "European Solidarity" have prepared bill No. 5101, which allows the liquidation of religious organizations by a court decision, to attempt to liquidate the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in this way, according to the Ukrainian political expert, head of the "Third Sector" centre Andrei Zolotarev. In a commentary for the UOJ, he noted that the reason for Poroshenko’s initiative was the failure of his OCU project, which did not receive the support of the majority of believers.
The expert believes that Poroshenko is also forced into these actions by his curators from the United States, who "blessed" the "Tomos" project for Ukraine. “Perhaps, he (Poroshenko - Ed.) is doing this at the suggestion of patrons from Washington, who, along with him, are those who blessed this political project ‘Tomos’,” Zolotarev said. Since the OCU project, naturally, did not meet the understanding of believers and it is close to failure, they want to take a different path – to eliminate the largest religious structure of the UOC, which, despite what has already been done against it, remains the largest. And this bill is directed against it."
The political scientist believes that Vladimir Zelenskyy and his team will not support this bill since for Poroshenko followers he will never become their own, and the risks due to its adoption are very high not only for the UOC but for the whole of Ukraine. Zolotarev assesses the bill as violating the constitutional principle of non-interference of the state in religious issues.
The expert considers Poroshenko's position predictable as the ex-president continues to divide Ukrainians into the “right” and the “wrong” and pedals religious conflicts that are beneficial to him.
As reported, "Servants of the People" will not support Poroshenko's bill, the head of the party said.
