Ukraine's government system is weakest link in EU integration push — politician

Doctor of Law and politician Ihor Koliushko expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"For the past two years, I and many other experts have constantly emphasized that our system of public administration is the weakest link in our European integration. And this isn't just about having an authorized official, for example, a vice prime minister for European integration or an office. These structures exist and they are working. But, let's say, there needs to be a coordination center that should coordinate the entire rest of the government system. And the government system, together with parliament by the way, should be engaged in bringing the standards of not just our legislation, but our way of life, into alignment. Everything. That is, we need to change both the laws and the rules for their implementation, compliance, understanding, and so on. And we need to change all of this so that we become understandable and as effective as the best examples among European Union members. And here, unfortunately, we have a great deal of work ahead of us," Koliushko explained.

The politician emphasized that the Ukrainian government simply tries to quickly report on completed work, regardless of whether many steps have been taken or not.

"And the problem, in my view, lies precisely in the fact that these matters are constantly in focus. Both for the government and the European Commission. But our government always likes to formulate its tasks in such a way that, regardless of whether they do a lot or a little, it's easy to report that we've fulfilled everything," he added.

He also noted that specialized units must be created that deal exclusively with policy formation, because without them the state is unable to transition to strategic management.

"That's why in our roadmap for public administration reform, various phrases appear like 'strengthen,' 'enhance,' 'improve,' instead of clearly stating, for example, to create directorates in all ministries, or they can be called something else, but there must be specialized units that deal exclusively with policy formation. Because without these units, we are unable to transition to strategic management. Our weakest point lies precisely in the fact that we are constantly working in firefighting mode, putting out fires that are already burning," Koliushko concluded.

• Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the European Union is discussing the possibility of introducing a new membership format for Ukraine, which could accelerate its accession to the bloc within the framework of a potential peace agreement.
• Also, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced progress in preparing the Prosperity Package for Ukraine. According to her, work on the document is almost complete.