The main cause of problems: Why Ukraine didn’t show a breakthrough in the EU Enlargement

The EU Enlargement Report was published on October 30, where Ukraine’s progress was also analysed.

Several Ukrainian journalists and researchers have already expressed their position on this matter. They mainly observed that Ukraine failed to demonstrate significant progress this year for rapid accession to the EU.

This is partially true, but there’s a bigger issue at play. Moreover, no one sees the “elephant in the room” – the unfinished public administration reform. This reform needs to be launched now to successfully advance in the negotiation process.

This should be a top priority – not postponed due to more urgent priorities – such as screening for compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law or the Ukraine Facility programme.

So, what’s this all about?

Firstly, the progress in approximating Ukrainian legislation to EU requirements in 2024 (1.82 units) seems small compared to 2023 (1.68 units) only because the 2023 report is not progress over a year. Instead, it represents cumulative data on the implementation of the Association Agreement (AA), which began in 2014. That is, this is an assessment of nine years of progress.

For the AA, such dynamics were normal because the prospect of membership unites the country and motivates everyone to work towards fulfilling complex European requirements.

Secondly, the EU never took seriously how we implement the Agreement. Ukraine has never been assessed in the way it is now being done within the enlargement package.

We in our organization – the Ukrainian Center for European Policy – have been doing this since 2014, which has allowed us to understand what stimulates this process and what hinders it.

Thirdly, Ukraine demonstrates systemic positive results only in those areas in which it worked within the AA earlier and where there was a clear understanding of the benefit – partial access to the European market.  

We also have high scores in crucial areas like energy, which suffered during the war and require reforms for our survival.

The ‘Fundamentals’ cluster lacked clear requirements and wording in the Association Agreement. The European Union has never before set it as the main condition for the European integration process. Consequently, we lack breakthrough results in this area, as it was not a prior focus.

In fact, the greatest achievement of the negotiation process will be high marks in the ‘Fundamentals’ cluster.

But for this, we will have to complete the work on the implementation of political and legal reforms. Work that we have always put off until later.

Fourthly, the areas in which Ukraine demonstrates consistently high marks are particularly revealing. They are all related to trade, namely: ‘Free movement of goods’ (the industrial visa-free regime); ‘Digital transformation and media’ (Digital visa-free regime); ‘Customs union’ (Customs visa-free regime); ‘Energy’ (Energy visa-free regime); and ‘Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy’.

In other words, these are the areas where progress provides direct benefits to Ukrainian businesses. We also have significant progress in the ‘International Relations’ cluster, as there are very few obligations as such.

Within the framework of ‘Free movement of goods’, Ukraine passed the assessment of the European mission on the signing of the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA).

The work of the assessment missions began at the end of 2021, before obtaining the status of a candidate for EU membership. Now, Ukraine needs to bring the legislation on market surveillance into full compliance and resume planned and unscheduled inspections in such areas as ‘Machinery’, ‘Low-voltage equipment’, and ‘Electromagnetic compatibility’.

These are the areas covered by the ACAA agreement negotiations, which will enable our exporting manufacturers to avoid re-certification in the EU and save costs.

Another advantage of the ACAA is that even a single institution receiving recognition from the EU for conformity assessment represents a breakthrough and brings great prestige to the country.

In ‘Digital transformation and media’, Ukraine has adopted legislation to implement a roaming-free zone with the EU, “Roam Like at Home”, and is now awaiting assessment from the EU for direct roaming-free communication between Ukraine and the EU.

Furthermore, the European Union emphasizes strengthening the capacity and independence of regulators in the field of communications and media. Each negotiation chapter requires improvements to institutional capacity, as the EU emphasizes not only legislative changes but also strengthening the role of regulatory institutions.

Recommendations of this nature demonstrate that many legislative obligations have been fulfilled in this chapter and that it is possible to move on to institutional ones.

In the ‘Customs union’ chapter, Ukraine continues to work on implementing legislation on Authorised Economic Operators and the NCTS system. Both reforms began implementation in 2019.

As part of its legislative obligations, Ukraine has started work on a new Customs Code and has also adopted a Strategic Plan for the Digitalisation of the State Customs Service until 2026.

In the ‘Energy’ chapter, framework legislation was adopted to implement the European Green Deal policy, and its active implementation began, driven in part by the consequences of the war.

For example, Ukraine began to actively develop distributed small-scale power generation to replace large stations (which suffered significant damage as a result of missile attacks), and there is a gradual phasing out of coal and a transition to renewable energy sources using manoeuvrable gas generation to balance the energy system.

In the ‘Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy’ chapter, Ukraine adopted legislation in the areas of veterinary policy (animal transport and animal disease control), food safety (labelling of food contact materials), and GMOs.

To implement legislation, Ukraine is introducing risk analysis for placing food, feed, and products of animal origin on the market.

In pilot mode, our country has implemented the TRACES system, which is designed to control and track products of animal and plant origin, as well as animals and plants. Ukraine regularly submits information to the European RASFF system, a rapid alert system for food and feed. All these measures are taken to remove technical barriers to trade between Ukraine and the EU.

And finally, about the need for completion of the civil service reform.

To capitalize on the current European Commission’s positive stance towards enlargement, Ukraine should not rely on achievements within the framework of the AA, but transfer work within the framework of the negotiation process to a completely different level.

The public administration reform can help this process as it will strengthen the institutional negotiation structure, making it resistant to political changes.

This requires creating special policy directorates in each ministry and adapting the structure of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration to the negotiation process. We also need to create attractive working conditions (for example, bonuses or training abroad with a mandatory work period in Ukraine) for EU law specialists involved in the negotiations.

This work must become prestigious and attractive, ensuring that every ministry has strong teams to prepare negotiating positions and adopt EU legislation.

In addition to the staffing issue, Ukraine needs to develop and adopt a National Program for the adaptation and implementation of all EU legislation. This should be a top priority in the field of European integration.

eurointegration.com.ua