On 11 March, the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) in partnership with the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine hosted the hybrid event “Unveiling Ukraine’s Anticorruption Journey: Progress Towards EU Membership”.
The offline part took place in GNRT Coworking in Kyiv.
In her welcoming speech, Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine stated:
“Less than two weeks remain before the EU Council considers the next steps of the EU enlargement and assesses our progress in rule of law and anti-corruption reforms. I believe that in this context, our country has solid, clear achievements. We have a fully functioning anti-corruption infrastructure, both for preventing and combating corruption. We have established a proper legislative framework to ensure that institutional and law enforcement functions are properly implemented”.
Allan Pagh Kristensen, the Head of the EUACI, highlighted that while Ukraine is fighting a war, Ukraine is achieving the best results ever in fighting corruption.
“We see important progress regarding legislation, investigation of high-level cases by NABU and SAPO, the number of verdicts by the High-Anti Corruption Court, and implementation of the state anti-corruption program. Recently, we saw very significant progress in the Corruption Perception Index - Ukraine received the best score ever and is now on an equal footing with some other EU candidate countries. But you cannot eradicate corruption by legislation or punishment alone. There should be more focus on preventive work, mainstreaming anti-corruption across sectors and reaching out to the ordinary Ukrainians so they can feel in their daily lives that the fight against corruption has an impact”.
When discussing factors influencing the perception of Ukraine abroad and the level of corruption, the EU Ambassador, Katarína Mathernová stressed the importance of systematic work on anti-corruption by law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies and pointed out:
“Most corruption cases are not investigated by the specialized anti-corruption institutions that deal with high-level officials. There is a whole second layer of corruption cases that are dealt with by other law enforcement agencies. There is unfortunately no "silver bullet" to change perception of corruption in Ukraine. All institutions need to continue doing their job. But there is more understanding now: you need to keep telling the story, and we need to help you tell the story”.
The discussion consisted of two panels. One was dedicated to Ukraine’s anti-corruption scene in the context of EU integration, while another dealt with achievements of 2023 and challenges of 2024 in the work of the anti-corruption institutions NABU, SAPO, HACC, and the NACP. They elaborated on strategic goals for the long-term perspective, highlighting the significance of collaboration and the role of fostering integrity against corruption threats.
Watch the full video of the discussion here.