Politico Names Zelensky Europe's 'Dreamer of Year' Who 'Cajoled, Shamed and Begged' the West

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Politico newspaper on Tuesday published its annual ranking of the most influential people in Europe, POLITICO 28: Class of 2024, and named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Europe's "dreamer of the year."

Zelensky inspired Ukrainians to continue resisting Russia's special military operation and "cajoled, shamed and begged" Western countries into helping Kiev, the ranking said, adding that Zelensky's leadership "managed to push through things that were until recently unthinkable," including the possible admission of Ukraine to NATO and the European Union.

Polish politician Donald Tusk, the head of the Civic Coalition and former president of the European Council, was named "the most powerful person in Europe," the ranking showed.

Following the recent parliamentary election in Poland and Tusk's opposition alliance of pro-European Union parties getting 298 seats in the 460-member Sejm, while the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) won 194 seats, "the country is on the cusp of a new age of Tusk, and the wind of change is blowing once more," the ranging said. Tusk represents a "sliver of hope for centrists" in Europe, "who have watched in despair as populist forces moved from the fringes and into government."

The newspaper also named Italian Prime Minister Giotgia Meloni "the doer of the year," who sent "a shiver down the spines of centrists" across Europe and beyond by being named the prime minister of Italy and who "has moved to implement constitutional reforms that would significantly boost prime ministerial powers."

Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Central Bank of Russia, was named by the newspaper "the disrupter of the year." In the last ten years as the bank's governor, Nabiullina's "hawkish monetary policies have repeatedly saved the ruble and kept the country’s economy afloat," the ranking said, adding that she "has managed to stave off the effects of unprecedented Western sanctions designed to drain the Kremlin’s coffers."