Oleksandr Danyliuk is a Ukrainian politician. He was Ukraine's finance minister in the government of Volodymyr Groysman. He was dismissed on 7 June 2018 after a conflict with Groysman. He was Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine from late May until 30 September 2019 when President Volodymyr Zelensky accepted his resignation. And was briefly head of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center from 19 June 2019.
Oleksandr Danyliuk worked in the private sector as a consultant and investment manager in a number of companies, including TEKT, Alfa Capital and Western NIS Enterprise Fund in Ukraine. Later Mr. Danyliuk worked at McKinsey & Company London and Moscow offices for three years. His project portfolio included reform of the UK tax system as well as strategy development and operations optimization in energy and telecom projects. Between 2006 and 2010, Mr. Danyliuk chaired the Rurik Investment fund that operated in London and Luxembourg.
Public Service
Oleksandr Danyliuk first joined public service in 2005 as economic advisor to the Ukrainian Prime MinisterYuriy Yekhanurov. In his team Danyliuk worked on energy reform and carried out privatization of state-owned enterprises, including Kryvorizhstal, Ukraine's largest integrated steel company, which became part of the global steel producer Mittal Steel Company N.V. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych appointed Danylyuk his adviser. In 2010–2015, Danyliuk chaired the Economic Reforms Coordination Center – an apolitical think tank under the aegis of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. McKinsey & Company drafted the initial strategy of the Center. He won the competition for the position. The Economic Reforms Coordination Center focused on drafting bills and introducing practices designed to improve investment climate in Ukraine, uphold the rule of law and intensify cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. Yanukovych largely ignored this Coordination Centre. Danylyuk was dismissed as advisor by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov on 24 February 2014. On 17 July 2014 – Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. From September 2015 – Deputy Head of Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
In 2016, Oleksandr Danyliuk was appointed a Minister of Finance. He declared his key objectives at the position – better investment climate in Ukraine, transparent rules of doing business for Ukrainian entrepreneurs and foreign investors and public finance reform. The government's mid-term priority action plan for 2020 outlines key milestones that the Ministry of Finance has to achieve. Danyliuk's team also designed the Public Finance Administration Strategy 2017–2021 which enables effective planning and better quality of public services with taxpayers’ money. Ministry of Finance priorities under the leadership of Oleksandr Danyliuk:
State Fiscal Service reform and its transformation from a punitive agency in a service-oriented agency
Financial Investigation Service to replace tax police
Customs reform
Improving tax legislation
Introduction of mid-term budget planning
Implementation of the State Banks Development Strategy
E-Data project development for public spending
Audit reform
Internal reform to drive reforms in other areas
On 7 June 2018 Ukraine's parliament voted in support of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman's motion to dismiss Finance Minister Danyliuk. Groysman had asked for Danylyuk's dismissal in response to Danylyuk's May 2018 letter to the ambassadors of the G-7 top industrial nations saying that Groysman was stalling vital reforms of the State Fiscal Service that are needed to combat corruption. Groysman said Danylyuk's actions may have hurt Ukraine's negotiations with the European Union about economic aid. Danylyuk stated that he had been asked to use government money to fund particular politicians favoured projects, effectively to back political corruption.
Personal views
Oleksandr Danyliuk supports libertarian views. He was a personal friend of the Georgian reformer and libertarian Kakha Bendukidze. After the latter passed away, Danyliuk became one of the co-founders of Bendukidze Free Market Center.
Family
Oleksandr Danyliuk is married and has two children. His wife, Olga Danyliuk, born in Lviv, studied at Central Saint Martins and got her PhD at the Royal School of Speech and Drama. She used to work as a theater designer in New York and Moscow and now works as a theater director in London. Danyliuk's elder son Richard, 18, studied at the British public school, Winchester College. The younger son Volodymyr is 11 years old and was born in London. Danylyuk speaks five languages: Ukrainian, Russian, English, Spanish and French. Hobbies: hiking, mountain climbing, cycling and rowing.
