Ukraine’s EU bid at risk amid anti-corruption law scandal — Ukrainian MP

Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the EU, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, said this on Espreso TV.

“It will definitely not be possible to pretend that nothing happened. All colleagues from various EU member states said this will hit our pace, our progress toward the EU, and Ukraine’s opportunities. Everything that happened is, de facto, a crime against our future committed by the Ukrainian authorities, which will have serious consequences for us,” said Klympush-Tsintsadze.

According to the Chair of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the EU, assessment screenings of Ukrainian legislation will now take place. Our partners will have to look very carefully after these screenings and evaluations to see what happens next — whether we have moved forward to the next stage or, on the contrary, slipped backward during the time they were assessing.

The Chair also added that the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is part of the roadmap for rule of law implementation and something Ukraine must keep unchanged. Now it turns out that even the document Ukraine submitted to the European Commission, which was accepted, acknowledged, and sent to all EU members for approval and the opening of the first cluster, needs to be reconsidered.

“This will very negatively affect the speed, the pace, and above all the trust, which is very difficult to earn,” emphasized Klympush-Tsintsadze.

• Politician and captain of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Yuriy Lutsenko stated that after the President’s Office learned about the legal wiretapping of the apartment of Kvartal 95 co-owner Mindich, where sensitive political and business matters were discussed, a large-scale attack on the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office began.