In the new European Commission report on Ukraine’s EU integration, the assessment of anti-corruption reforms has worsened: while last year it was described as “some progress,” this year it was characterized as “limited progress.”
Source: PRYAMYI
According to Pavlo Demchuk, senior legal advisor at Transparency International Ukraine, this signals a potential slowdown in Ukraine’s EU trajectory due to ineffective anti-corruption efforts.
Key issues:
- Ignoring recommendations to improve the effectiveness of NABU, including autonomous wiretapping of suspects without SBU involvement and ensuring the quality of forensic examinations.
- Overloaded expert institutions and risks of pressure or bribery of experts, which slow down evidence collection.
- The possibility of cases being closed due to expiration of pre-trial investigation terms, allowing suspects to evade punishment even with just a few days’ delay.
- A decrease in the number of indictments against corrupt officials from the National Police and the State Bureau of Investigations, indicating a decline in successfully completed investigations at medium and lower levels.
Demchuk emphasizes that without accelerating anti-corruption reforms, Ukraine’s EU progress may slow, and combating corruption remains a key condition for integration.