"Fulfilling the requirements of the EU, we must take into account and NOT mix TWO aspects: the perception of the fight against corruption in Ukraine and the actual real struggle" - the head of the ISI Tatyana Khutor at the international conference "Good Governance Forum 2024" in Tbilisi, Georgia

Perception

All these years, the main obstacle to the EU for Ukraine was considered corruption. Even now, our team, promoting the issue of confiscation and transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine as compensation, most often face a frank question among foreign partners: "Will this money be stolen?"

Ukraine headed for European integration 10 years ago - exactly as long as the Russian-Ukrainian war lasts. These two processes are inextricably linked, because Russia formany years made efforts to destabilize Ukrainian statehood: bribery of politicians, the crazy work of propaganda as the Ukrainian information space, and the whole world. The goal of the aggressor state was to distort the image of Ukraine to the level of a corrupt understate, the existence of which is impossible without external management.

Struggle and results

The anti-corruption system in Ukraine has been recently developed and is still going through a difficult path to work at full capacity. But the successes along the way are undeniable. Since obtaining the status of a candidate for EU membership in the summer of 2022, our state has already fulfilled 4 out of 7 criteria of the European Commission, and independent organizations assess Ukraine's compliance with the requirements by 8 out of 10 points.

For the belligerent state, this is an extraordinary success, given that, with the outbreak of the great war, most registers were temporarily closed, and the declaration for high-ranking officials was suspended. Now, registers are being opened, and the declaration is being restored. Thus, according to the ISI, which we represented at the UN in Vienna and Atlanta, in 2023 Ukraine managed not only to restore most of the pre-war indicators but also to surpass some of them. Read more in our short report in the comments, or non-short report - on the site. 

Our state continues to move to the EU, receiving.

Our state continues to move to the EU, receiving the support of world partners, and the control of civil society is one of the drivers of this process.

We are grateful for the organization and invitation to the Forum Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Sida – Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete, UNDP Georgia, UK government, USAID National Governance Program, The USAID Economic Governance Program, UN Women Georgia, EU Global Facility on AML/CFT Program, Open Government Partnership.