A year of homework: what the Ministry of Justice has done for Ukraine’s European integration

Ukraine applied for EU membership on 1 March 2022. Two days later, the European Parliament adopted a resolution granting Ukraine candidate status.

On 23 June 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine candidate status.

However, along with the status, the country received a list of EU requirements for “homework”.

The success of Ukraine’s European integration depends on how these are fulfilled.

To be precise, there are not seven EU requirements but seven blocks of reforms, the implementation of which the EU has defined as a condition for maintaining candidate status.

Ukraine has made clear progress in some areas. The High Judicial Council has become operational, MPs have approved laws on the media and national minorities, a new head of the Specialized Anti-corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office has been appointed, and anti-corruption agencies have significantly stepped up their work in recent months. In December, Ukraine introduced new selection criteria for Constitutional Court judges.

Almost a year later, on 22 June, the European Commission gave, as expected, an interim oral assessment of Ukraine’s implementation of the criteria for starting EU accession negotiations.

According to the EC, Ukraine has fully met two of the seven criteria. Progress has also been made on the other five.

According to experts, Ukraine still has time to implement all the European Commission’s recommendations by October, when the EU will formally decide whether Kyiv has done its “homework” – the recommendations made a year ago.What has been done in the justice sector over the past year to meet the requirements of EU membership? The Ministry of Justice has been faced with an unprecedented challenge: adapting Ukrainian legislation to EU acquis in the context of a full-scale war.

Approximation of legislation

At the end of 2022, the Ministry of Justice began to prepare a methodology and options for the implementation of the screening of Ukrainian legislation in the Justice, Freedom and Security sector. The process, which is complex in all respects, but supported by the EU partners in the Pravo-Justice project, began to develop rapidly and bore fruit in February 2023.

At the EU-Ukraine Summit, EU colleagues presented the second part of the report on the level of approximation of Ukrainian legislation to current EU law, prepared upon processing Ukraine’s answers to the EU questionnaire submitted in 2022.

During the EU-Ukraine Summit on 3 February 2023, the preparation of the National Programme for the Implementation of Ukrainian Legislation to the Law of the European Union (EU acquis) was initiated. 

An essential condition for preparing this programme is the initial assessment of the implementation of the EU acquis (self-screening), which consists of analysing the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law.

This process makes it possible to clearly define the current stage of Ukraine’s implementation of the EU acquis and to identify areas where our legislation meets the requirements of EU law and where it does not.

The Ministry of Justice has already completed the first stage of the initial assessment of the state of implementation of the EU acquis in the negotiations sections: Section 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights” and Section 24 “Justice, Freedom and Security”. More than 1,300 pieces of EU legislation have been analysed. In addition, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine was also responsible for reviewing acts of other negotiated chapters, including those in human rights, justice, freedom and security, which are the core values of the European Union.

On 4 March, Resolution No. 189 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 28 February 2023, approving the procedure for conducting an initial assessment of the implementation of the EU acquis, entered into force.

According to this Resolution, ministries and other central executive authorities have until 30 June 2023 to conduct an initial assessment of the state of implementation of the EU acquis and submit a report and proposals for bringing legislation into line with EU law by 30 August.

The analysis identified structural problems in some sectors, including the rule of law, the judiciary, fundamental rights and judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters.

Based on the results of the self-screening, the Ministry of Justice has prepared seven tables on compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis in the negotiations section 23 and 223 tables in section 24.

A report on the assessment results is currently being prepared, together with proposals for adapting Ukrainian sectoral legislation to the requirements of the EU acquis.

Other ways to accelerate Ukraine’s integration with the EU

In December 2002, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a strategy to reform the Ukrainian penitentiary system.

It is clear that preparing the documentary base, its systematisation with the introduction of Council of Europe standards, all in the context of Russia’s armed aggression, is a highly challenging task. However, thanks to the joint efforts of the Ministry of Justice, the work on establishing and ensuring the effective implementation of the strategy is at a high level.

The Law on Administrative Procedure was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and signed by the President. It brings the relationship between the state, civil society and business to a new level and strengthens legal protection. The law introduces new approaches to the interaction of public authorities with individuals and legal entities.

Ukraine ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). The ratification of the Convention strengthens the legal protection of victims. It provides them with access to justice and allows for the protection of Ukrainian citizens who have suffered violence not only in Ukraine but also abroad.

A pilot project involving psychologists in criminal proceedings involving minors has been launched.

This concerns regional centres providing free secondary legal aid. A special register of psychologists is being created for this purpose. The involvement of psychologists in criminal proceedings involving children will contribute to the prevention of their re-traumatisation and the protection of their rights.

What’s next? Naturally, we expect to become a member of the EU as soon as possible. And the Ministry of Justice, for its part, is doing everything it can at the maximum realistic speed.

However, we understand that not all countries are ready to support our aspirations, there is still a lot of work to be done, but this is an irreversible process that cannot be stopped.This is the path we will take. And along with expelling the enemy from our territory, EU accession will be an important victory for Ukraine and all Ukrainians.

eurointegration.com.ua