The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) – the leading anti-corruption support program in Ukraine funded by the EU, co-funded and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. The program was established in June 2017. A new 4-year phase was launched in May 2020 with a 22.9 million EURO budget.
The EUACI is playing a pivotal role in ensuring the sustainable institutional development of anti-corruption institutions. Assistance provided to civil society organisations and investigative journalists enhances their capacities and promotes their essential role in anti-corruption efforts. Five cities are selected as Integrity Cities (Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi, Chervonograd, Mariupol and Nikopol): the EUACI is cooperating with the city mayors and administrations, and civil society to strengthen transparency, accountability, and integrity.
The EUACI works closely together with its many partners to plan for the coming months of activities. These consultations demonstrated the high-level of ambition of the programme’s partners and their wish to return to business as usual to the extent possible. And the EUACI will be there to provide support; be it by providing international and national expertise, IT solutions, training, strategic development, advocacy work and international exchanges. Of course, these are challenging times, and the key principle for any plan should be flexibility. The EUACI will be guided by this principle to be able to adjust to the changing needs of its partners.
The context in which the EUACI is working has changed radically since the beginning of the full scale war. Now four main pillars constitute the foundation of our work:
- Facilitate that upcoming reconstruction (and current humanitarian) aid are managed and utilised with respect for integrity, transparency and accountability.
- Support EU integration in anti-corruption, including appropriate reforms and legislative developments that will bring Ukraine closer to the EU.
- Enhance asset recovery and tracing work to support the policy of sanctions against Russians that are supporting the aggression against Ukraine.
- Promote resilience of the anti-corruption infrastructure and ensure that EUACI’s partners can continue to function during the war and after Ukraine’s victory.
Find more information about the three components of the EUACI here.