The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU was signed and ratified in the same year. In the following years, the Free Trade Area and visa-free travel came into effect, the course towards EU membership was enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine, and finally, Ukraine applied for membership, received candidate country status, and began negotiations. Today, the European Union and its members are reliable partners of Ukraine in strengthening its defense and financing its state budget.
At all these stages, independent anti-corruption institutions have been and remain key conditions for Ukraine’s European integration. This was a direct requirement of the Association Agreement, one of the main conditions for introducing a visa-free regime, one of the seven key conditions that had to be met to start accession negotiations, etc. Independent and effective anti-corruption institutions are not a technical detail, but a systemic requirement for Ukraine’s European integration. They are one of the main criteria for assessing Ukraine’s progress towards EU membership and an essential marker of trust by European partners, a symbol of political and value compatibility.
Bill No. 12414, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, eliminates the independence of anti-corruption bodies, turning them into divisions of the unreformed and politically dependent prosecutor’s office. It also significantly limits the effectiveness of these bodies by denying them the ability to maintain the confidentiality of investigations.
In essence, this means the destruction of one of the most important factors keeping Ukraine’s door to the European Union open. This factor ensures the trust and support of European partners, which is vital in times of war, and fuels the Ukrainian dream of a better future, which gives people strength on the front lines and in the rear.
This, among other things, creates grounds for rolling back existing achievements in European integration and greatly increases the country’s financial risks.
We, representatives of Ukrainian civil society, were among those who fought for Ukraine’s European perspective during the Revolution of Dignity. Knowing the position of our European partners, we regard the current events as a disruption of the course towards European integration, for which not only hundreds of lives of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred were paid, but also many thousands of lives of the heroes of the ATO and later the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the full-scale war.
Together with the disruption of the reboot of the Economic Security Bureau and the High Qualification Commission of Judges, the application of politically motivated selective justice to civil society activists, military personnel, journalists, etc., creates a feeling of a return to 2013, when Ukraine’s geopolitical and civilizational choice had not yet been made.
Only the conditions are entirely different now. A full-scale war has been going on for four years, requiring maximum unity and concentration of forces from the state, society, and our European partners. In the context of a declining economy, a catastrophic shortage of financial resources, fragile political support from outside, and even more fragile social cohesion within, this creates extraordinary risks for Ukrainian statehood.
We call on the President of Ukraine to demonstrate a statesmanlike position: to weigh the risks and veto the adopted draft law, thus confirming to Ukrainian society and European partners Ukraine’s commitment to its European choice.
P.S. Many drafted and signed this statement before the law came into force yesterday evening. Therefore, the demand of this statement should now read as follows:
We call on the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to demonstrate a statesmanlike position: to weigh the risks and take the necessary steps to repeal the law, thereby confirming to Ukrainian society and European partners Ukraine’s commitment to its European choice.
Signatories:
Think tanks:
CASE Ukraine Center for Social and Economic Research
Center for Economic Strategy
Institute for Analytics and Advocacy
Office of the Chief Economist of the Coalition of Business Communities for the Modernization of Ukraine
Advanter Group Analytical Center
Institute for Economic Leadership
NGO “Technologies of Progress”
Network for the Protection of National Interests “ANTS”
Institute for Socio-Economic Transformation
Future Development Agency
NGO Analytical and Consulting Center for Public Governance and Law
NGO Center for Public Expertise
NGO Center for Reform and Local Development
Interdisciplinary Scientific and Educational Center for Anti-Corruption (ACREC)
NGO Youth Democratic Association YODA
Poltava Branch of the Public Service of Ukraine
Business communities:
CEO Club Ukraine
Board Business Community
Business Association “We Are Khersonites”
Association of Private Employers
Drupal Ukraine Community
National Retail Trade Organization
NGO Bukovina Entrepreneurs Club
NGO Kyiv-Mohyla Business School Alumni Association
Public organizations:
Civic platform New Country
Charitable organization Social Innovation Foundation From Country to Ukraine
NGO Bilozersky Center for Regional Development
Public organization BCD
Social Capital NGO
Ukrainian World NGO
Boikiv Ethnological Society NGO
STAN NGO
Vchysya NGO
Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation NGO
Horizon of Change NGO
Free Community Country NGO
Center for Civil Liberties
NGL.media
Ukrainian Student Association NGO
Siverskyi Donets Crisis Media Center NGO
Vyshche NGO
Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (NAKO)
Chervonyi Hube NGO
Agency for Urban Initiatives NGO
Agency for Sustainable Development and Innovation NGO
Rivne Center for Social Partnership (GI For Fair Tender)
Library Country Charitable Foundation
Zero Waste Lutsk
International Institute for Integral Development
Coalition of Cultural Activists
Anti-Corruption Headquarters
NGO “Foundation for Institutional Development”
NGO “Ukrainian Pirate Community”
NGO “Tolo Association”
NGO “Dobrochin Center”
NGO “Women’s Anti-Corruption Movement”
NGO “Chernihiv Human Rights Center”
NGO “Ukrainian Fishermen’s Club”
NGO “Center for Investigative Journalism” The Power of Truth