Leo Lira had moderated the first panel discussion during the conference “Results of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union in 2018” on December, 19. The event was organized by the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. We offer to your attention some basic theses of the NEC senior analyst about this conference:
- The discussion at the panel was atypical for Ukraine. Unlike in many cases where officials present their long speeches and praise their achievements, today’s conference was fairly balanced, providing insights on successes, challenges and even backtrack on certain reforms.
- Pretty unusual was also the openness shown by the speakers. It is quite rare that high officials would clearly state about vested interests of various groups in the government and parliament that prevent from pushing ahead certain reforms (transport, customs, etc). At the same time, despite critics, the debate remained sober and constructive.
- A separate attention deserves EU Ambassador who spoke in a very frank manner about the limits of the current European integration of Ukraine and how the interests of certain EU countries or industries prevent Ukraine from developing a more advanced framework of cooperation.
- The main issue which was discussed in detail is the poor (although with exceptions) cooperation between the government and parliament. Here it was highlighted the lack of capacity of various institutions dealing with EU integration.
Following speakers took part at the conference:
- Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine
- Hugues Mingarelli, EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine
- Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
- Maria Ionova, Member of Parliament, Deputy Head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on European Integration
- Olga Stefanishyna, Director General of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration
- Jurgen Wellner, Team Leader of the Association4U Project
You can find the infographics prepared by the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration below.
