Ukraine has reached advance in putting into practice 20 AA priorities of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda, primarily in security, economic, trade and visa liberalization sectors
Ukraine has reached substantial advance in putting into practice 20 AA priorities of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda (AA) identified for 2011-2012, primarily in security, economic, trade and visa liberalization sectors. These are the major conclusions of a monitoring report, prepared by a consortium of Ukrainian think tanks, including The Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research, The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting and The Centre for Political and Legal Reforms. The media support is provided by the international NGO “Internews Ukraine”. The monitoring is supported by the European Program of the International Renaissance Foundation. The report was presented on November 3rd, 2011 at a press conference in Kyiv.
Implementation of most priorities (70 out of 78) of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda (AA) identified for 2011-2012 is still in progress, experts say. Ukraine has fully implemented only 2 out of 78 analyzed priorities and fell short to implement 6 priorities. In general, however, Ukraine’s implementation of the AA priorities stays uneven.
Yulia Tyshchenko, the director of the project, the head of the board of the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research, said: “If Ukraine considers itself as a democratic, free country, respecting principles of the rule of law and human dignity, it has no other alternative. If Ukraine loses this historic chance, the country will be thrown back to uncertainty”.
However, between January and October 2011 Ukraine showed symptoms of reform stagnation in the fields of political dialogue, rule of law and independence of the judiciary, experts say. Despite optimistic declarations of the Ukrainian authorities, today’s situation can lead to the slowdown of Ukraine’s EU integration progress.
Generally, slow pace of AA priorities implementation shows that EU-modeled institutional and modernization reforms face serious obstacles in Ukraine, according to the monitoring. This state of affairs can lead to stagnation of the Ukrainian EU progress. This stagnation, however, will have a direct impact on life of ordinary Ukraine’s citizens, depriving them of an opportunity to live, in the near future, in a country ensuring human rights, democratic values and the rule of law, experts say.
More information – http://www.es-ukraina.blogspot.com, http://eu-pda.livejournal.com.
Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research
Yulia Tyshchenko
tyjulia@gmail.com
***
Goal of the European Program is to promote Ukraine’s European integration by providing financial and expert support to relevant civil society initiatives.
