The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, and the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Taras Kachka, announced their commitment to speeding up essential reforms at the end of the informal meeting of European Affairs ministers in Lviv on Thursday 11 December.
Stressing that the implementation of policies to combat corruption and promote the Rule of law should be part of the EU accession process, according to a joint declaration, Ukraine has committed to taking steps to prioritise the implementation of the most relevant and effective measures over the coming year. “They [these efforts] all focus on strengthening the Rule of law, fighting corruption and building the strong accountable democratic institutions in Ukraine and these institutions Ukraine needs for the future accession process”, Ms Kos explained to the media. Ten measures in particular are highlighted. They concern the amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the fight against corruption, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the State Investigation Bureau, as well as prosecutors and judges, including those of the Constitutional Court.
“Our top priority is therefore to quickly advance reforms and continue bringing Ukraine’s laws in line with EU requirements. Member states have provided guidance on which reform objectives they expect Ukraine to achieve in order to move this process forward. This is what we needed”, explained Ms Kos. The European Commission and Ukraine now have a roadmap for moving forward with the technical negotiations, “meaning we know exactly what needs to be done”, the Commissioner explained.
The Danish Minister for European Affairs, Marie Bjerre, said she was “very proud” that they had managed with a more technical approach, “which means that the enlargement process with Ukraine is not at a standstill” while Hungary is blocking the official opening of the first set of accession negotiation chapters.
According to the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, by the end of the year, all the accession negotiation chapters and groups will have been examined by the EU Council. “This means that, technically, we (will) be ready to open the six groups as soon as the political context is favourable”, he added.
See the joint declaration with the ten measures: https://aeur.eu/f/jy4 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)