WASHINGTON – Ukraine is resolutely moving forward in implementing its national program of reforms necessary to raise itself to the standards of the European Union.
That was the message brought to Washington recently by the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Dmytro Shymkiv, the official responsible for overseeing the government’s efforts in this area.
Speaking at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on March 3, Mr. Shymkiv focused on 18 of the 35 EU criteria Ukraine’s National Reform Council is striving to implement by 2020 and presented a scorecard on its progress thus far.
“We have more than 70 percent of the decisions of the national reform council being implemented in legislative documents,” he told the full hall at the Wilson Center, adding that an increasing percentage of the people surveyed in Ukraine react positively to these changes.
That is especially evident in their reaction to the “strong development” in the area of defense and security, where, he said, “Russia did everything possible to destroy the Ukrainian army, and we now have an army which is able to stand and defend the country.”
Mr. Shymkiv became the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine on administrative, social and economic reforms in July 2014, at the age of 40. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Microsoft Ukraine.
In his presentation, Mr. Shymkiv pointed out that Ukrainians now see the most serious delays in the implementation of reforms in the areas of anti-corruption, the judiciary, public administration and health care.
Anti-corruption reform, however, is at the top of the government’s agenda, he said. “We established all the necessary institutions needed to fight corruption,” including the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which was “fully set up” in September, “fully financed” for 2016 and fully functioning, he said. “So, it’s working. We’re building the muscles.”
Mr. Shymkiv pointed out that 70 cases are now being pursued by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, including one case against an ally of the prime minister and another against a member of the president’s party.
But much still remains to be done in acquiring and training the bureau’s personnel, he added.
In the area of reforming the judicial system, Mr. Shymkiv noted that constitutional amendments on judicial reforms have been passed by the Parliament, covering such things as video recording of court proceedings and the evaluation of the competence of judges, their income, expenditures and other issues.
As for reforms in law enforcement, Mr. Shymkiv pointed out that they have already been enacted in 13 cities, that there are now 7,000 new police officers in the country, and that 60 percent of the people now trust their police forces. He added that Ukraine is thankful to the United States and Japan for their assistance in providing these reforms.
Mr. Shymkiv noted that “another big win” in Ukraine’s reforms was in the area of public procurement with the establishment in February of an electronic procurement system. “And we already have amazing results,” he said.
As he described it, every state procurement will have to go through that system. All government ministries and institutions (state-owned enterprises, regional governments, cities) are using it already and saving about 830 million hrv in less than a year.
“And this is an example of how we are leapfrogging and engaging into using the system in small and medium business. Because small and medium businesses now can participate in public procurement in Ukraine. And this is powerful, because it drives the local economy, it drives transparency, and it drives trust to the local government,” he said.
Among the other reform areas Mr. Shymkiv noted:
• Decentralization: Before, decisions were made in Kyiv; now communities are empowered to build their communities and run their affairs.
• Public administration: The new European Union Foundation civil service law has been approved; it separates political figures from state administration figures. Now in its implementation phase, it will be fully functioning by April 1.
• Financial sector: All insolvent banks have been taken out of the system; 65 banks involved in illegal activities have been closed.
• Tax system: Payroll taxes have been cut twice; gas royalty taxes have been reduced. More transparency is to be introduced this year.
• Deregulation: The newly established deregulation office is going over every regulation point by point. “If it’s irrelevant and unneeded, we eliminate it.” In all, 5,000 standards have been aligned with European standards; 16,000 Soviet standards have been abolished.
• Agriculture: There is a “clear plan” for development. With Russia’s market closed, exports to Russia have been reduced to 2 percent. And, with Russian roads closed, a new Ukrainian “Silk Road” has been established to China, Kazakhstan and other countries.
• De-nationalization and privatization: State-owned enterprises are ready for de-nationalization and privatization, and 11 have been transferred to the Privatization Fund.
• State-owned enterprises: The financial statements of state-owned enterprises have been published (something that’s never happened before). It has been decided that 345 state owned enterprises will be privatized this year; payments to CEOs of these enterprises are now linked to performance.
• Education: Reforms are making Ukraine’s educational system more comparable to international standards.
• Healthcare: In this area, Ukraine is falling behind. Procurement of very critical medical supplies is to be done via international organizations.
• National security and defense: In response to Russian aggression, the size of the Ukrainian army has been increased from 180,000 to 250,000; the budget has been upped to 5 percent of Ukraine’s GDP; NATO standards have been adopted.
• Energy sector: In 2014, 92 percent of gas came from Russia; now the country is energy-independent from Russia, with 63 percent coming from the EU. Energy use decreased by 21 percent.
• Digital transparency: An open data law has been passed; all treasury transactions are posted online. There is “full transparency on public spending.”
Summing up his presentation, Mr. Shymkiv noted:
“This is how it looks: our Ukrainian ideas about dignity, freedom and the future. We have a very clear vision of where we would like to be – it’s European standards. And there is a very clear set of criteria, as I said, within the European Union.
“The roadmap is pretty big. It’s actually 62 reforms and 10 priorities, and very, very clear things to be done.
“As part of last year, we passed 343 legislative documents related to the reforms. This has been the joint work of the Parliament, president, cabinet of ministers, civil society and international support.”
Mr. Shymkiv also discussed Ukraine’s reform program with representatives of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, appearing before them on February 29.