An article by Ivan Nagornyak and Mariia Shalamberidze.
Ukraine is on the verge of officially launching negotiations on “Fundamentals”, the first cluster of the EU acquis. This cluster is among the most important and voluminous, the first to be opened and the last to be closed in the negotiation process. Ivan Nagornyak, PhD in Political Science and European Integration Team Lead at EasyBusiness, and Mariia Shalamberidze, Senior Analyst at EasyBusiness, analyzed the screening process in the area of fundamental reforms and discussed the successes and challenges for Ukraine in the four key sections of the “Fundamentals” in their article for European Pravda.
“Fundamentals” covers some of the most complex areas of the EU acquis, including the rule of law, the functioning of democratic institutions and the judiciary, public administration reform, human rights protection, and the fight against corruption. The results of the reforms under this cluster will determine Ukraine’s overall success in the accession negotiations.
And although Hungary is trying to block the process of opening negotiations, it will inevitably commence. There are many challenges and work to be done on the way to implementing reforms and transforming the country. Within the Fundamentals cluster, our main tasks lie in the following areas:
Functioning of democratic institutions
- Updating the Electoral Code, legislation on parties and political campaign financing
- Streamlining parliamentary activities, developing a Code of Conduct for MPs
- Preserving the independence of local self-government and ensuring stable regional funding
- Supporting the functioning of CSOs
Public administration reform
- Implementing the Public Administration Reform Strategy
- Improving data-driven policymaking and monitoring
- Strengthening the HR capacity of the civil service
- Improving public accountability mechanisms
- Launching the state debt management agency
- Adopting the draft law on administrative fee
- Liquidating the District Administrative Court of Kyiv and establishing a new court
Rule of law
- Ensuring transparency of the Constitutional Court (adoption of a code of ethics for CCU judges)
- Funding of the judicial system
- Reform of legal education and judicial training
- Filling vacancies in the High Qualification Commission of Judges and the High Council of Justice
- Updating judicial IT tools
- Strengthening prosecutorial self-government bodies
Fight against corruption
- Enhancing the capacities of the NABU, SAP and NACP
- Developing a track of investigations in high-level corruption cases
- Strengthening anti-corruption investigations through access to financial data
- Creating a unified register of bank accounts
Fundamental rights
- Implementing the Istanbul Convention and the Rome Statute
- Implementing European standards for the prevention of torture
- Strengthening the protection of freedom of speech
- Developing an integrated approach to protecting children’s rights
- Strengthening the rights of people with disabilities and IDPs
Justice, freedom and security
- Adopting the Financial Investigation Strategy and the State Drug Policy Strategy
- Developing a track of investigations in the field of combating organized crime and financial crimes
- Implementing the SOCTA methodology
- Implementing the ARMA reform
- Improving border and migration management
Read more about the screening process in the area of fundamental reforms and about Ukraine’s successes and challenges in our column for European Pravda.