The conference on reforms in Ukraine was held in Brussels
In contrast to the Orange Revolution, this time the Ukrainian civil society had no illusions about the capacity of the authorities to introduce reforms and it is pushing them “to do miracles” in reforming the country. That was the thesis of Dmytro Shulga, Director of the European Program Initiative of the International Renaissance Foundation. He was a participant of the discussion held on June 18 in Brussels. The event was organized by Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels in cooperation with the Center for European Policy Studies and Reforms Support Center to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with support of the International Renaissance Foundation’s European Program Initiative and Mission of Canada to the European Union.
Dmytro Shulga noted that a large community of experts was heavily involved in discussing and pushing for reforms in Ukraine at all levels. He addressed a number of largest initiatives, including: the Reanimation Package of Reforms, Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels, the Strategic Advisers Group, the Civic Constitutional Commission, and the work of strong Business Associations. He voiced the major request of the civil society to the EU to be included in communication with the government and discussion of reform agendas.
Taras Kachka, Vice-Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, focused on economic and regulatory reforms. He addressed the main successes (public procurement law, the law 1193, laws on standardisation, food safety) and challenges (the need for external stimulus, the risk of “reformatory chaos”, corruption, enforcement and institutional reforms). He stated that, curiously, trade with both the EU and Russia was going better than expected.
Dmytro Kotlyar, Leading expert of the anticorruption group of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Initiative, focused on reform agenda in the area of fighting corruption. He said that during RPR work some progress had been achieved in the process of fighting corruption, namely adoption of the anti-corruption law and law on public procurement. He encouraged the EU to attach specific conditions and benchmarks in all agreements and financial aid to the Ukrainian government and check fulfilment of the taken obligations.
Yuriy Hanushchak, Adviser to the Minister of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine, focused on the recently adopted Concept of local government reform and administrative-territorial reform. He addressed the main challenges in this field: the preservation of rural territories; the complexity of current admin-territorial system; and the need for decentralisation as a division of tasks and competences between state and local authorities and between different levels of local authorities. He described the adopted vision for reorganising the adminterritorial system, which will be similar to that in France. He emphasised that federalisation was not an option.
Oksana Syroid, Director of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation, focused on the constitutional reform and the crisis of legitimacy of the Constitution given non-public, non-transparent and often abusive earlier amendments to the Constitution. She emphasised that the Constitution needs further reform, but it is to be done in a public and trusted process. She described the efforts in this field under the new Government and President and concluded that the lack of transparency remained a big problem. She stressed that external pressure, whether from Russia or from the West, was unacceptable and that Ukraine had sufficient intellectual authority and experience to manage the task, with the help of the Venice Commission as necessary.
Philippe Cuisson, Deputy Head of the Support Group for Ukraine, DG Trade, European Commission, highlighted the unprecedented nature of the Support Group for Ukraine (Ukraine being a first non-member of the EU, for whom such group was created), explained the provisional application of the Association Agreement and the ratification process to follow, and spoke on the invalidity of Russia’s claims about the Association Agreement with a DCFTA as an EU project to antagonise Russia. He concluded by saying that currently there was a third momentum for Ukraine’s integration with the EU – and it was up to Ukraine to seize it.
Contacts:
Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels
Olena Prystayko
oprystayko@gmail.com
