What has already been done and what else does Ukraine need to do to further its European integration?

In early November, the European Commission (EC) in its annual enlargement report gave the green light for Ukraine to start formal accession negotiations with the EU. This is the second major milestone on the road to our membership. The first one was overcome on June 23, 2022, when Ukraine was granted candidate status.

The EU will make the final decision on the opening of formal accession negotiations with Ukraine at its summit on December 14-15. But technically, according to European media reports, they will be opened in March 2024. However, only after Ukraine has implemented three more of the seven EC recommendations, namely anti-corruption, de-oligarchization, and amendments to the legislation on national minorities.

However, experts emphasize that there are a number of other equally important reforms in priority areas that Ukraine must implement without regard, that is, not so much to join the EU as to survive and win this war with Russia. What are we talking about?

The following is in the format of questions and answers.

What priority sectors does the government intend to reform in the short term (until the war ends)? And in the long term?

Ihor Reiterovych, PhD in Political Science:

"The priority for reform in the short term is everything related to national security and defense. These are strategic industries and defense companies. These steps are being implemented, there is a new Ministry of Strategic Industry. I don't know whether Kamyshin [Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleksandr Kamyshin.] will deliver the results that are demanded, but this ministry is taking certain steps. Everything else is on hold because the war prevents large-scale privatization. Small and medium-sized privatizations can be carried out, but large privatizations are on hold because no one sees the need to buy these enterprises.

Among the priority areas of economic reform are heavy industry and public sector reform. As for the long-term perspective, we will move towards general digitalization and introduce these processes into the activities of all industries. And this can be a feature of early modernization. In addition to infrastructure reform, we will modernize bridges, roads, and historical heritage sites in the future. The Big Construction project will continue after the war, but it will be called differently. For example, the 'Great Reconstruction' (but the essence will be the same - major repairs of all infrastructure facilities)."

Oleh Posternak, political scientist:

"We need to take a systematic approach to completing the reform of the justice system and the selection of judges. In fact, this is one of the most important indicators that the Ukrainian authorities have not been able to close in line with European standards for several years now because they wanted to keep control of the judicial vertical. Of course, this is the anti-corruption fight and the adoption of amendments to the NABU legislation, optimization of the NACP's work, and greater autonomy of the SAPO. There should be no more cases when the authorities delayed the competition for the head of the SAPO. The issue of changing the legislation on national minorities is not simple either, but I think the President's Office will take its time, wanting to use it in the calculation of a future peaceful settlement as an acceptable compromise, for example, regarding the Russian minority in Ukraine. And most of the economic and social changes related to harmonization with European law can be postponed for the long term, but it is worth not delaying."

Volodymyr Fesenko, political scientist, Chairman of the Board of the Center for Political Studies "Penta":

"The priority now is what works for the state's defense capability. This is the main priority. Everything related to the development of the military production complex.  Personnel and organizational steps in this direction are a top priority.

The priorities set by our European partners are obvious. These include the continuation of anti-corruption reform and the reform of the judicial system, which is far from complete. There are many reforms in the public sphere. But what exactly should be done will be determined in the course of negotiations with the European Union. There, the directions of reforms will be jointly formulated by Ukraine and the European Union. But we will have to reform most areas of public life."

Vadym Triukhan, diplomat:

"In fact, it is not so much about the readiness of the authorities as it is about the priorities that the European Commission has clearly defined. For example, we are talking about changes to the legislation on NABU and NAPC, the law on national minorities, and the law on lobbying. And while the first two priorities are, let's say, short-term, meaning they can be resolved quickly, lobbying is more difficult. Why? Brussels expects Kyiv to pass a law that meets European standards, but there is a problem: the issue of lobbying is either poorly regulated or not regulated at all, even in the EU itself. Therefore, we will have to develop it ourselves, and not blindly copy the EU practice."

What is the government's action plan to fulfill the 7 pre-conditions set by the European Commission for the EU integration?

Vadym Triukhan:

"Currently, one person in our country is responsible for everything - President Volodymyr Zelensky. And in situations where he does not take care of certain issues of strategic importance, they are either not resolved at all or resolved very slowly. This was the case, for example, with the law on strengthening financial monitoring of politically exposed persons (PEPs), the adoption of which was one of the requirements of the IMF and the EU. So, until the President slammed the table, lawmakers were engaged in equilibristics, actually trying to deceive the Europeans, to pass a law that did not meet the expectations of the European Union. Most likely, it will be the same here. There is no clear plan that would contain any deadlines for fulfilling the requirements of the European Commission. It will all depend on the political will of the President, who has enough leverage over the parliament, and only he can push all these processes. But the main question is: Does Zelensky have the political will to push these processes further? I would say that for him, the issue of starting negotiations on EU accession, and perhaps even the issue of formalizing EU membership, has become a matter of honor, a matter of life. When Zelensky first came to power, he did not quite understand what the EU was and why Ukraine needed it, but now he clearly understands that this is a task that can be realistically accomplished. The only thing is that it requires extraordinary efforts."

Ihor Reiterovych:

"The action plan for the conditions set by the European Commission is very simple: to fulfill them. Of course, the government will put forward its own vision on additional provisions of the agreement. But this is logical, Ukraine should not mindlessly implement all the initiatives put forward by the European Union. After all, in some things we are ahead of the EU and there is no point in going back. We are better at digitalization than the EU countries.

The key requirements will be fulfilled, but when the process of actual accession (negotiations) begins, there will be discussions with each individual country in each industry. They should take into account Ukraine's vision and principled positions, from which we will not retreat."

Volodymyr Fesenko:

"Today, the European Commission is already positively perceiving Ukraine's efforts to fight corruption. Recently, Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, visited Kyiv, and she noted that the Ukrainian side had implemented seven recommendations that were formulated for Ukraine when we received the candidate status. We have implemented all seven recommendations by more than 90%. We have fully implemented four of them, and we are still working on some of them. In the course of our work, an additional item appeared - the law on lobbying. Looking ahead, we should avoid situations where additional new requirements will be imposed on us. We have already had situations when we were negotiating with the European Union to obtain a visa-free regime. We got it, but not on the first try, and we were constantly being put forward with new requirements. Now we need to make sure that at each particular stage there is a clear list of requirements, so that there are no subjective approaches at the level of specific proposals and recommendations. So that later they don't say that you haven't fulfilled everything."

Oleh Posternak:

"I am not sure that the authorities have an understanding of such an action plan. So far, the President's Office and the government have been using wartime to objectively justify the incomplete fulfillment of all the conditions, and it works, but this contradiction is not playing into our hands. After all, the Western Balkan countries are far ahead of Ukraine in terms of structural reforms and changes."

How does the European Commission perceive the efforts made by the Ukrainian authorities in terms of fighting corruption and reforms?

Volodymyr Fesenko:

"In general, Ursula von der Leyen noted that Ukraine has done its homework well in the face of war, almost completely, and this was confirmed by the decision of the European Commission, which positively assessed Ukraine's report and recommended starting negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU."

Oleh Posternak:

"The European Union takes into account the circumstances of the Russian-Ukrainian war and will maintain cooperation, especially political support, which can compensate for the lack of intensive and prompt military assistance, such as ammunition. Therefore, I can say that the current achievements in Ukraine's European integration are also partly a political advance to the Ukrainian authorities in absentia. Although, compared to previous presidents, for example, Zelensky has managed to achieve significant results in European integration."

Vadym Triukhan:

"I have the impression that the European Commission is interested in Ukraine successfully fulfilling all the conditions and finally starting negotiations on EU accession. The European Commission, represented by its head Ursula Von der Leyen, who visited Kyiv on November 8, is by no means playing along with Ukraine, but is encouraging it. Ms. Von der Leyen praised Ukraine for continuing to implement reforms despite the full-scale war. She emphasized that more than 90% of the recommendations put forward by the EC along with the granting of candidate status to Ukraine have been implemented. In particular, progress has been made in constitutional reform, justice sector reform, selection to the High Council of Justice, anti-corruption processes, and the fight against money laundering. Ukraine has also taken a number of important steps to limit the influence of oligarchs. The EC President mentioned the new media law and also noted progress on the issue of national minorities. So, it's a positive thing to hear such complimentary things from an EU representative. However, we must realize that the demands on us to bring our country up to the EU level will only increase. Joining the EU is not a quick process."

Ihor Reiterovych:

"Publicly, the European Commission is taking everything positively, saying that it sees progress and signs off on this progress. In the context of the judicial reform, it was said that all the previous requirements were met.

I think that as long as we continue to reform the institutional system and prevent and combat corruption, we will have a positive reaction. The creation and formalization of the institutions responsible for this is now being finalized.  For example, the latest steps of the Cabinet of Ministers, which include an increase in the number of NABU detectives.

And then there will be questions about implementation, practical cases, punishment of top corrupt officials, and so on. It's hard to say what the reaction will be, because we can't boast of cases that have been brought to a logical conclusion. But we have always pointed out that we do not have a formed structure. And when the structure is formed, we will not be able to appeal to this."

Apart from Washington, does Kyiv feel any political pressure from other Western partners to implement structural reforms?

Oleh Posternak:     

"This is a situation where our country objectively needs increased political attention from the EU or the US as a factor of constant constructive influence. The West focuses on Ukraine, is more observant and less tolerant of flexible and contradictory actions of the Ukrainian authorities."

Ihor Reiterovych:

"The European Union exerts pressure both in a consolidated manner and at the level of a single country. For example, when Britain, France, and Germany make some separate statements about the need to speed up reforms in Ukraine. So this pressure is publicly present. But this pressure is like a wish, like an understanding that if we do this, we will be able to count on a certain level of assistance. That's why today it's actually good, because it would be worse if our partners were indifferent to our progress. So, when they pay attention to us and tell us what and how to change, it is positive for us."

Vadym Triukhan:

"The nature of the pressure - from Hungary and other EU member states, as well as from non-EU states, such as the United States - is different. Hungary is fulfilling the Kremlin's order and doing everything to stop Ukraine's movement to the EU and NATO. As for the others... Of course, the most serious influence comes from the so-called heavyweights - the United States, France, Germany, etc. We should take this pressure calmly, not respond in a "fool yourself" style, but take their comments into account and try to correct the situation as much as possible where there are the most serious problems. By the way, there are already signs that our partners may condition their assistance to Ukraine on its progress in implementing certain reforms, particularly in the fight against corruption, the judicial system, etc. Yes, this is a wake-up call. So we have to draw conclusions and then everything will be fine."

Volodymyr Fesenko:

"The topic of pressure from Western partners is popular. I would not talk about pressure. I have heard from journalists about the alleged pressure from Western partners to hold elections. But this is not true. There is no official position of the European Union that we must hold elections during the war. There is no such thing. There is a position of individual politicians who give us "good advice". This is an institutional mechanism of interaction with the European Union. The European Union has long since developed a scheme of the path to EU membership, what to do and how to do it. When and what kind of negotiations should take place, what requirements are put forward. There is, for example, a list of Copenhagen criteria, five groups of reforms that must be done before joining the EU. And everyone has to do it. Some are more ready, some less. But there are specific clear criteria. And we are gradually moving forward. First, there was the Association Agreement and the DCFTA, then the candidate status. Now, if there is a positive decision, negotiations on accession will begin at the summit of European leaders, and at each stage there will be specific criteria for what needs to be done.

One of the criteria is the rights of national minorities. And here we have, let's say, disputes with some of our neighbors, plus there was a need to implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission, so Ukraine passed a law on national minorities, and we need to make some adjustments to the law on education.  These reforms are more likely to fulfill the EU's Copenhagen criteria for EU membership, to meet EU standards. The same goes for the rule of law. Ultimately, we need the same thing ourselves. We need less corruption and an independent judicial system that is not corrupt, that does not benefit individual judges, and that meets the standards of the rule of law.

In this sense, all these reforms that need to be carried out as part of European integration (as our European friends say) are a tool for modernization. The process itself is important here, because it makes the country more modern, more democratic and more legal. In this process, at each stage, certain requirements are put forward to us. Do we want to get a higher education? If we do, we pass the exams. If everything goes well, we get a diploma and the right to work with high qualifications. Similarly, with European integration, in order to reach a new stage, we have to pass certain exams and do certain work. We are simply given tasks that meet the standards of the European Union. We are not being forced: if we want to become a member of the European Union, we have to do certain things. If we don't like it, we don't really want to..."         

Interviewed by Myroslav Liskovych and Lana Samokhvalova, Kyiv