Expert discussion on Getting Rid of Oligarchs. What the Antimonopoly Policy Should Be?

The event featured Vice President for Economic Education, Associate Professor of the Kyiv School of Economy Oleh Nivyevskiy, Ukrainian lawyer and Authorised Government Official of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in 2015-2019 Aghiya Zahrebelska and was moderated by CASE Ukraine Executive Director Dmytro Boyarchuk.

Keynote points of the discussion and abridged expositions of speaker reports are published below.

Keynote Points:

• The antimonopoly policy envisages protection of democracy and national security.
• The fact that more than 50% enterprises in the economy of Ukraine are state-owned (present in 15 out of 28 sectors) and some 60% enterprises are related to politically exposed persons or oligarchs further complicates the implementation of the antimonopoly policy. The economy of Ukraine is in the firm grip of the government and oligarchs.
• The performance of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine is measured by its independence. It is necessary to provide the AMCU with law enforcement function to ensure efficient implementation of a competitive market policy in Ukraine.
• The Antimonopoly Committee is the key national regulatory authority commissioned to protect competition, ensure stable development and economic sustainability.
• The antimonopoly policy will not perform with the reform of the judiciary.
• There are the three ‘pillars’/factors – independence, functional capacity and civic involvement – that need to be simultaneously implemented for the Antimonopoly Committee to operate as intended.
• It is necessary to ensure the maximum possible divestiture of the economy and to minimise the number of enterprises with dominant market positions. For this, the antimonopoly reform should be carried out first-hand.

Transcript of discussion (please follow the link )