Tetiana Shevchuk, Legal Counsel at Anti-corruption Action Centre (Ukraine)
Recently, the Council of Europe and the European Union have shared the proposals for future co-operation priorities in the six Eastern Partnership countries submitted through a specially-created ‘Suggestion Box’.
The ideas shared via the ‘Suggestion Box’ came from a wide range of participants, including public officials, members of parliament and of Non-Governmental Organisations, or individuals. The main areas include fighting economic crime – tackling corruption within the judiciary, reinforcing the capacity of anti-corruption bodies, and raising awareness of the anti-corruption policies and actions.
StrategEast has interviewed major experts from EaP countries. Here are the answers from an expert from Ukraine.
Do you think EU can bring tangible results in fighting corruption in your country? What EU programs and actions can help tackling corruption?
The EU has been important actor in the anti-corruption reforms taking place in Ukraine during the last seven years. Major achievements of the anti-corruption reform during this period were reached with the support and even political pressure of the EU. The EU also provided financial support for the establishment of new institutions and programs, expert support, and support of the CSOs working in the field. For instance, the EU backed the establishment of the entire anti-corruption infrastructure – National Anti-corruption Bureau, Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office, High Anti-corruption Court, and National Agency on Corruption Prevention including a new system of electronic asset disclosure. The visa liberalization plan has been a powerful instrument in achieving those objectives.
Unfortunately, the EU no longer has such a powerful instrument that can motivate Ukrainian government to keep with anti-corruption reforms. Thus, the Eastern Partnership initiative should develop a sustainable and clear action plan suitable for the situation of each of the countries to correspond to the state of implementation of the reforms. Particularly, the inclusion of anti-corruption conditionalities into financial assistance and cooperation programs should be a good practice.
