Implementation of Ukraine’s EU-related reforms remains selective, says report

PRESS RELEASE

Kyiv, July 9th, 2010 

Implementation of priorities identified in the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda remains selective, says a report presented by Ukrainian civil society experts. Ukraine’s new administration has changed the country’s EU integration value priorities, as less attention is now being paid to political and democratic transformations, instead more emphasis is made on the economic co-operation with the EU, the study says.

The report, presented on July 9^th at a press conference in Kyiv, has become a first outcome of a civil society’s monitoring of the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda. The project is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation (OSI Network).

«Results of the civil society’s monitoring are a touchstone to identify if EU- and reform-friendly rhetoric is matched by the real actions taken by the government”, comments director of the project, the head of the board of the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research Yulia Tyshchenko. “Indeed, the European integration is not an abstract foreign policy activity, but an integral element of the internal policy”, she adds.

Conclusions of the expert monitoring (March – June 2010) say that the Ukraine’s new administration has changed its EU integration value priorities, moving from political and social reforms to economic co-operation with the EU.

This year’s government’s Priority Actions Plan, aimed at integrating Ukraine to the European Union[i], only partially follows priorities set out in the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda for 2010. The government’s plan lacks key priorities of the political dialogue, including those of the modernization of the election law, constitutional reform, human rights policy, regional policy, etc.

Lower attention to democratization and more emphasis on economic and technological aspects of the EU integration weaken the role played by of the Association Agenda as a catalyst of Ukraine’s internal reforms, the report says.

Experts stressed the need to modernize the Ukrainian legislation and to bring it in line with the relevant EU regulations. Only one out of the 58 Association Agenda priorities has sufficient legal basis in Ukraine’s legislation. New laws are necessary to implement 21 priorities, since no legal basis exists to address the relevant reforms issues. 17 priorities require amendments to the existing laws or adoption of the new legal acts.

The monitoring also points at incomplete implementation of the Association Agenda priorities by Ukrainian administration. So far, only 3 out of the existing 58 priorities have been implemented entirely. 49 priorities are still under the implementation process, while 8 priorities have not been implemented at all.[ii]

“The monitoring performed by the non-governmental experts helps identify if, and to what extent, the information on political and economic developments in Ukraine is open to the public”, says the director of the project Yulia Tyshchenko. “In other words, the monitoring gives a tool to observe not so much self-advertising rhetoric of the government, but real achievements and problems in the relevant fields”, she adds. 

Only 32 Association Agenda priorities are represented in the relevant plans of Ukraine’s public institutions. Implementation plans for 11 priorities have not been disclosed, and no information on implementation plans and content has been uncovered for 11 priorities.

Background

Participants of the conference : Yulia Tyshchenko, the Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research; Ihor Burakovskyi, the Director of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting; Ihor Koliushko, the head of the board of the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms; Olexandr Sushko, Research Director of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation; Yevhen Bystrytskyi, executive director of the International Renaissance Foundation; Dmytro Shulga, senior manager of the European Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.

EU-Ukraine Association Agenda (AA) is a key document regulating EU-Ukraine relations before the new Association Agreement is signed and enters into force. The Association Agenda outlines key priorities of reforms that Ukraine needs to implement to fully use the opportunities provided by the deepened cooperation with the EU. The practical aim of the Association Agenda is to clearly define priorities requiring urgent action before signature of the Association Agreement. 

The first stage of the civil society’s monitoring is a part of a project «Implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda: experts’ view» performed in March-June, 2010. The project is implemented 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 project is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation.

It is implemented in co-operation with the Civil Society Expert Council under the Ukrainian section of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee.

Contacts:

Director of the project – Yulia Tyshchenko, tyjulia@gmail.com

Coordinator of the project – Svitlana Horobchyshyna, sveta@uncpd.kiev.ua

More information (video of the press conference, the full text of the report, and its summary) will soon be available at the project’s blogs:

www.es-ukraina.blogspot.com

http://eu-pda.livejournal.com/

Description of the project:

Wikipedia: Громадський моніторинг Порядку денного асоціації Україна-ЄС

The goal of the European programme of the International Renaissance Foundation  is to promote Ukraine’s European integration through financial and expert support of the civil society’s initiatives. More at: www.irf.ua

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[i] As established by the decree of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers No 1073-р, 19 May 2010.

[ii] Implementation of the Association Agenda priorities has been evaluated on the basis of activities taken by Ukraine’s governmental institutions. Implementation schedules identified by the governmental institutions are often vague, as they sometimes say that a priority will be implemented “during the year”.