The Legal Reform Forum for Civil Society is an annual event that has grown into a strategic space for open dialogue between the government, the public, international partners, and experts.

The discussions at the 5th Legal Reform Forum, which took place on 16 September in Kyiv, once again focused on issues such as creating a favourable legal environment for the activities of civil society organisations, implementing roadmaps for reforms within the framework of European integration, protecting human rights in a state of martial law, the role of peaceful protests, and assessing the pace and quality of changes expected by Ukrainian society and and European partners.

Civil society as a driver of European integration

Oleksandr Kornienko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and Co-Chair of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council, was invited to the opening of the Forum. He congratulated the participants on the anniversary event and on Civil Society Week in Ukraine, which was introduced by the government in accordance with the National Strategy for the Promotion of Civil Society Development.

“I would also like to remind and congratulate everyone involved in civil society activities, whether in non-institutionalised forms or in institutionalised forms through social networks, groups, and situational communities. We all saw wonderful mass actions in the summer related to anti-corruption reforms and their protection… And despite the state of war, Ukraine demonstrates a fairly high level of freedom. Formally, these freedoms can be restricted, and they are restricted even by presidential decrees approved by the Verkhovna Rada, but we provide opportunities and create a safe space for people to exercise their right to protest.”

The issue of a favourable environment for civil society is at the heart of EU policy within the political criteria for EU accession.

The EU considers it extremely important that civil society in candidate countries has the right to act independently and without threats or pressure. This was noted in his opening speech by Asier Santillan Luzuriaga, Head of the European Integration, Governance and Rule of Law, Civil Society Section of the EU Delegation to Ukraine:

“We all understand that civil society organisations do not always convey convenient messages, especially those involved in anti-corruption investigations — both journalists and activists. They are often under enormous pressure because they interfere with vested interests at the highest levels. Recent incidents targeting investigative journalists and anti-corruption activists remind us of the risks faced by those who dare to speak truth to power. These people are not just watchdogs. They are guardians of democracy. And it is essential to create an environment in which they can work without fear of intimidation, persecution or violence.

Citizens are not only the ones who set the agenda, but also the ones who can point out certain problems in development where the authorities may violate the social contract. This is what happened in July this year, after the authorities attempted to restrict the independence of the NABU and the SAP. “We coped with this challenge together,” said Oleksandr Sushko, Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation. “I am very pleased that both civil society and the authorities have demonstrated a level of maturity and willingness to understand the realities and listen to each other.”

Oleksandr Sushko noted that Ukrainian society has repeatedly sent a clear signal to the political system that the course of European integration is a priority. “I see how important the role of active citizens is in promoting our European integration. This is not a matter for a narrow stratum of political elites and business. It is a matter for the whole community. In other words, European integration will never be successful if it is not needed by society, if society is indifferent to it. We have seen that Ukrainian society has repeatedly demonstrated how important the European vector is to it. Starting with the Orange Revolution, then the Revolution of Dignity… they were based on our European vector,” added Oleksandr Sushko.

Roadmaps: progress, challenges and risks of slowing down European integration

 Within the panel dedicated to Roadmaps and EU accession negotiations, participants discussed progress and challenges in implementing key reforms. The central issue was maintaining the momentum of change, regardless of whether the negotiation clusters would be opened by the end of the year.

The key task now is not only to adopt the Roadmaps, but also to ensure their practical implementation. This was noted by Nataliia Oksha, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Public Communication, Head of Division, Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

“Both the government and the Verkhovna Rada have already begun to implement the tasks set out in the Roadmap, particularly with regard to civil society. One of the tasks was to strengthen the involvement of civil society institutions in the provision of social services, specifically to harmonise approaches to the participation of civil society institutions in the provision of social services. Today, this task has essentially been completed. The relevant law has been adopted by Parliament. Now, civil society institutions can also provide social services on a market basis without paying VAT. Also, as part of the roadmap, a National Plan for the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Promotion of Civil Society Development has been adopted,” said Natalia Oksha.

According to Ivan Nahorniak, head of Easy Business’s European integration department, after June 2024, both the government and civil society did a great deal of work on developing roadmaps. In particular, the roadmap on the rule of law, despite differing attitudes towards this document, was positively received by the European Commission. At the same time, the public administration reform laid out in the Roadmap for Reforming Democratic Institutions is critically important for the pace of Ukraine’s European integration. “The document concerning public administration reform, i.e. the reform of our civil service, is the most underestimated in terms of the real need for its implementation. For us, this is now a critical element in the context of our overall speed of European integration.” According to the expert, it is now necessary to resume civil service competitions, which have been suspended since 2020, and to introduce a systematic approach to personnel policy.

The expert also stressed the importance of real, rather than formal, implementation of the reforms provided for in the Roadmaps within the framework of European integration.

According to Taras Shevchenko, Director of Development at CEDEM, the effectiveness of the Roadmaps’ implementation directly depends on the existence of open negotiating frameworks, as they create the political will for rapid change:

“The peculiarity of Ukraine is that when something, such as European integration, is wildly popular, the government is ready to do whatever it takes, and parliament is ready to pass the necessary laws and decisions, but this all works like clockwork after the opening of the negotiating clusters. If they are not open, and this continues for a long time, this energy is lost because you understand that further steps do not depend on Ukraine…

The critical issue is the opening of the negotiation clusters, which we expected to have already happened by now, which we expect at any moment, but we understand that there is a great risk that the opening of the clusters may not happen in the near future and before the change of power in Hungary. And this is a risk that all other steps towards European integration will be stalled,” said Taras Shevchenko, Director of Development at CEDEM. According to the expert, both civil society and the authorities should join forces on this issue to open the negotiation clusters.

As noted by Yulia Kyrychenko, member of the board of the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, head of constitutional law projects, and co-chair of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Council, the implementation of roadmaps in the areas of public administration, justice, and anti-corruption is currently proceeding slowly. In addition, there is a lack of open information about the progress of these measures. According to her, as of now:

• In the field of public administration, only 9% of the 17 measures have been implemented, one of which is already overdue.
• in the field of justice, 6% have been implemented, 12% have not been implemented on time, and 30% of measures have no public information at all;
• in the field of anti-corruption, the situation is similar: 6% have been implemented, 12% are overdue, and 30% remain without information.

The expert recommends that the government establish a system for informing the public about the status of roadmap implementation and make this information more accessible.

“The main thing is our roadmaps, which were developed by our government and our civil society, and it is only in our interest to implement them. Even if the clusters open later and we already have 100% implementation, we will already be in the EU, so to speak,” emphasised Yulia Kyrychenko, member of the CPPD board, head of constitutional law projects, and co-chair of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Council.

The next wave of EU enlargement: Ukraine as a geopolitical inevitability

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there was a strong sense of urgency regarding movement towards the EU, both among civil society and international partners. This was stated by Lesya Ogryzko, director of the Sahaydachniy Security Centre, during the discussion ‘The ability of Ukraine’s democratic institutions to continue the course of European integration: speed, pace, philosophy, methodology.’ Today, in her opinion, this enthusiasm has significantly diminished:

“Our internal pace, our enthusiasm, has fallen sharply. I remember those first months of full-scale war, when we united around Olga Stefanishyna’s initiative… We worked day and night, and we had a sense of urgency. I think we have all lost that feeling. And by ‘we’, I don’t just mean Ukrainians… I want to point out that the European Union has also lost this passion, this feeling that we need to speed things up and help Ukraine.”

The next wave of EU enlargement, according to the speaker, will be geopolitical in nature, as most European countries have realised the fallacy of the previous strategy — leaving the space between the EU and Russia as a ‘grey zone’ or buffer. After all, such a policy proved to be a source of instability rather than security.

As noted by Oleksandra Bulan, senior analyst at the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy, Ukraine has come a long way in European integration since 2022 — the screening process is essentially complete, and despite delays in opening negotiation clusters for political reasons, work continues, and sooner or later a window of opportunity will open.

“The window of opportunity, when Hungary’s resistance is overcome, will open sooner or later. We are already moving in this direction, and we have something to show for it… Most importantly, although there are no expectations that this cluster will open now, work is already underway. Therefore, I am rather optimistic about this. I think that geopolitically, the European Union also understands that Ukraine will sooner or later become a member of the EU. We see Eurobarometer polls where, in most EU countries, the population supports enlargement and supports Ukraine’s accession. Moreover, they associate enlargement specifically with Ukraine. Our current slowdown is more of a situational difficulty that will be overcome,” said Oleksandra Bulan, senior analyst at the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy.

Protecting those who protect: military personnel rights in the spotlight of democracy

Military personnel and their families are a particularly vulnerable group today, accounting for over 40% of all appeals. This was stated during the discussion by Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

“By the end of this year, there will be more than 150,000 appeals. Appeals from military personnel, military families, and issues related to prisoners of war and missing persons are at the top of the list. This is approximately 40% of all the appeals I receive. And we have the tools to respond to this. These include physical visits, monitoring visits, and demanding specific actions from the authorities, primarily the executive branch, to restore violated rights… Unfortunately, our military personnel are one of the most vulnerable groups. Their fundamental right — the right to know how long they must remain in military service — has been violated. This has been recorded in the Commissioner’s Annual Report for the previous two years,” said Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to Inna Sovsun, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, military personnel defend the country but do not have adequate legal protection that meets the standards of a democratic state. 

“I would very much like us to remember that this is part of a broader discussion, and that the rights of military personnel must be protected because they are, first and foremost, fighting for our right to build a democratic society. It pains me greatly that we prefer to ignore when they are treated unfairly from various sides. We must remember this and bring the discussion about the rights of military personnel into the discussion about where we are heading as a democratic country,” said Inna Sovsun.

The value of freedom is the value of survival.

Today, Ukraine is forced to balance between two opposing logics — war and European integration. This was stated during the discussion ‘Human rights VS restrictions during martial law: assessment of the phenomenon of peaceful gatherings of people with cardboard signs and its impact on the state of democracy in Ukraine’ by Oleksandra Matviychuk, human rights activist and head of the Centre for Civil Liberties:

“We are caught between two logics: the logic of war and the logic of European integration. These are two fundamentally opposing directions, because the logic of war dictates centralisation, while the logic of European integration dictates decentralisation. The logic of war dictates that we must narrow the scope of rights and freedoms for security reasons. The logic of European integration, on the contrary, requires the expansion of rights and freedoms. And we are balancing between these two logics, because we have to accomplish two tasks in parallel: to protect our country, our people and our democratic choice from Russian aggression, and at the same time to do everything necessary to implement our democratic choice… We are doomed to accomplish these two tasks in parallel.”

According to the human rights activist, despite the complexity of the situation, the deep-rootedness of freedom as a key value for Ukrainians is a source of optimism. “For us, the value of freedom is not just self-expression, but a value of survival. The task of civil society is precisely to protect this value of freedom, understanding the complexity of the context, because our strength does not lie in a centralised presidential vertical, but in local democracy, freedom of speech, and the understanding of ordinary people that they are agents and that their efforts make sense,” believes Oleksandra Matviychuk.

In the Ukrainian perspective, freedom and security are not opposed to each other, but are interdependent values: one is impossible without the other. This distinguishes Ukraine from the Western view, where freedom and security are often seen as opposites. This opinion was expressed by Yevhen Hlibovytsky, co-founder and director of the Frontier Institute.

“The uniqueness of Ukrainian optics lies in the fact that, on the one hand, we try to root ourselves in the values of survival, and on the other hand, we strive for the values of self-expression,” says Yevhen Hlibovytsky, co-founder and director of the Frontier Institute. “And this actually means that we see two models at the same time. If we look at the ethical side of interaction within our society, we also see that we do not actually oppose freedom and security. For us, freedom and security are one and the same. We need security for freedom, and we need freedom for security. When we lose freedom, we lose security, and when we lose security, we lose freedom. From a Western perspective, this is often difficult to understand because freedom and security can be at opposite ends of the spectrum there.”

According to the expert, the July protests proved that democracy in Ukraine is capable of functioning in wartime: “It showed that democracy can exist even in conditions where its electoral component is unattainable due to the war… This “cardboard protest” very clearly demonstrated the maturity of Ukrainian society as a whole, and in particular of that new part of it that we have not yet seen in active political life.”

As Zinaida Averina, co-coordinator of the Peaceful Assembly ‘People with Cardboard Signs,’ noted, the youth protest that took place in July is not a ‘phenomenon’ but a natural continuation of the rich tradition of Ukrainian resistance. It was precisely the attempt to centralise power, the departure from the legacy of the Revolution of Dignity, and the risks to the course of European integration that triggered young people to protest.

“As a young person who returned to Ukraine after a year and a half of emigration since the start of the full-scale war, I consider the European integration movement to be very important for myself, and I try to follow and contribute to ensuring that we move in that direction.

I realised that many young people, and not only young people, are fighting, have left, or have died, and I had to take a step forward because I felt that there might not be anyone else left to take that step… Most importantly, I felt that there is this enthusiasm and desire among young people to contribute and do something on this path of many demands and tasks that Ukraine faces. Because these are young people who either stayed or returned and are very aware of the situation we are living in,‘ emphasised Zinaida Averina, co-coordinator of the Peaceful Assembly ’People with Cardboard Signs”.

Source: Public Space