48 Europe The EconomistSeptember 28th 2019
21sibility of holding local elections in Don-
bas and granting it more autonomy over lo-
cal matters as long as elections are free and
fair. For this to happen, however, Ukraine
and its allies insist that Russia must with-
draw its military hardware from Donbas;
that the region’s residents must be free of
thuggish militants; that those who were
forced to flee Donbas must be allowed to
vote; and that Ukraine must be able to con-
trol its external border with Russia.
How firmly the West stands by Ukraine,
however, depends largely on Mr Zelensky’s
ability to defeat corruption. All Ukrainian
eyes are on the battle over PrivatBank, for-
merly owned by Igor Kolomoisky, an oli-
garch who allegedly siphoned off $5.5bn
from the bank in what the government de-
scribed as a massive Ponzi scheme. He de-
nies the claims. In 2016 the government na-
tionalised the bank and filed a lawsuitagainst Mr Kolomoisky in London, which
is ongoing.
Mr Zelensky is in a tricky position. Al-
though his popularity depends on being
seen to fight corruption, he has close links
with Mr Kolomoisky. The oligarch’s televi-
sion station hosted the comedy show that
brought the president to prominence.
When Mr Zelensky rose to power Mr Kolo-
moisky, who had spent the previous three
years in self-imposed exile in Switzerland
and Israel, returned to Kiev. His former
lawyer, Andriy Bogdan, is now the presi-
dent’s chief of staff.
Mr Kolomoisky has secured a ruling in a
Ukrainian court that the nationalisation of
his bank was illegal. Meanwhile, Valeria
Gontareva, the former central-bank gover-
nor who nationalised PrivatBank and who
now lives in London, has been summoned
for questioning by the authorities in Kiev.Earlier this month Ms Gontareva was hit a
by a car in London, her son’s car was
torched in Kiev and her house in Ukraine
was set ablaze. Mr Kolomoisky vehemently
denies any involvement.
Ukraine’s prime minister has now
mooted the idea of a compromise with Mr
Kolomoisky. This has infuriated the imf,
which is keeping the Ukrainian economy
afloat. Backsliding on the nationalisation
of PrivatBank could not just cost Ukraine
the imf’s programme but also undermine
Western willingness to support it political-
ly and militarily.
“The most important thing is that no-
body forgets about Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky
said as he headed to the unGeneral Assem-
bly. With Ukraine embroiled in Mr Trump’s
impeachment controversy, there is little
chance of that. But there is a risk that it will
be remembered for the wrong reason. 7O
n a remotecountryroadthatwinds
through vineyards, a metal letter box
mounted on a post marks the address of a
hillside farm: 1710, route de Mérindol.
From the road, almost no other dwelling
is in sight. The closest neighbour, further
down this southern French valley, is at
number 1460. On the opposite side, the
nearest dwelling is number 2027. Across
the country, a bewildering system of
rural addresses has sprung up, which
seems more suited to an American sub-
urb than la France profonde.
Napoleon imposed an orderly street-
numbering system on Paris in 1805. For
nearly two centuries, though, even cen-
tralised France left rural parts alone. The
idea now is to bring some order to re-
mote hilltops and valleys. A ruling in
1994 obliged communes with a pop-
ulation of 2,000 or more to number their
houses. Now, mayors of the country’s
30,000 smaller villages say that they are
under increasing pressure to do so, too.
The growing use of home delivery, not to
mention the efficiency of ambulances
and fire services, all call for clearer house
identification. So mayors have been
poring over maps. The Burgundy village
of Lugny-les-Charolles numbered its 264
houses for the first time in July this year.
The confusion stems from the num-
bering method most communes choose.
Sequential numbering, common in
cities, mimics the system used in Paris.
But many small villages have opted for
metric numbering instead. This takes a
central village point—often the townhall—andworksoutward. So a house that
is 200 metres along the road from point
zero will be numbered 200. Its nearest
neighbour, perhaps 270 metres from the
centre, becomes number 270. At each
branch in the road, numbering begins
again from zero.
Mayors defend the metric system’s
logic and flexibility. It leaves, for in-
stance, plenty of available street num-
bers to use for new houses. In time, rural
France may indeed grow used to its new
numbered landscape, and the resident of
a remote dwelling to living at number- Until then, it remains a system of
wondrous Cartesian theoretical clarity
that is baffling to most.
The view from No 2027
FranceThe countryside catches up with NapoleonNow Amazon-friendlyT
he camerasflash, the crowd cheers,
the music blares. Sebastian Kurz has fi-
nally arrived. Teenagers and grandmothers
swarm for selfies with the young leader of
Austria’s conservative People’s Party (övp).
The upper stories on the handsome The-
aterplatz, in Baden bei Wien, a spa town
south of Vienna, are decked with banners
in the övp’s regulation turquoise. Someone
has baked a cake. The atmosphere is some-
where between a supercharged summer
fete and a heavyweight bout in Vegas.
On September 29th the övp is set to win
a second consecutive election for the first
time since the 1960s. As in 2017 its victory
will belong in large part to Mr Kurz; the 33-
year-old is Austria’s most popular party
leader by far. Detested by many urban liber-
als, he enjoys a star following in much of
the rest of the country. “He’s the only guy
who wants to make a change,” says Konrad
Mylius, one of several teenage volunteers
at the Baden rally sporting turquoise “Wir
für Kurz” (“We’re for Kurz”) t-shirts.
It is all the more remarkable given that
it is only four months since the spectacular
implosion of Mr Kurz’s government, a co-
alition with the right-wing Freedom Party
(fpö). In May two German newspapers
published footage of Heinz-Christian
Strache, fpö leader and vice-chancellor,
and an aide promising state contracts to a
woman posing as the niece of a Russian oli-
garch in exchange for favourable press cov-
erage. The video, filmed during a boozyBADEN BEI WIEN
Four months ago he faced crisis. Now
he looks like winning againAustriaKurz’s comeback