ACTIONS RECOMMENDED FOR UKRAINE IN 2015

Ukraine should focus its work in 2015 on:

• ensuring that the constitutional review process is carried out and completed in an inclusive and participatory way, in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and including civil society. As first steps, this includes measures towards enabling decentralisation reform and reform of the judiciary;
• taking steps towards harmonisation of all electoral legislation through its unification and reform of political party financing, including state financing. This should be prepared through an inclusive and participatory process in line with the OSCE/ODIHR, GRECO and Venice Commission recommendations, with first priority being given to revising the law on local elections for the local elections planned for the second half of 2015;
• taking additional steps on judicial reform in line with European standards and in close consultation with the Council of Europe/Venice Commission, in particular by adopting  Justice Reform Strategy with a comprehensive implementation plan; ensuring the effective functioning of the High Council of Justice and adopting and implementing the laws on the judicial system and the status of judges; implementing the law on public prosecution;
• continue to investigate independently the violent acts which occurred during civil protests in November 2013 – February 2014, as well as the tragic events in Odessa in May 2014, with the support of the International Advisory Panel proposed by the Council of Europe;
• investigating, in an independent and transparent manner, alleged crimes committed in the conflict zone;
• taking steps towards ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
• ensuring that the lustration processes in the executive and in the judiciary are in line with the relevant international standards;
• in close cooperation with the EU Advisory Mission, adopting and implementing a plan for police reform, to pave the way for comprehensive reform of the police, including the establishment of a police complaint mechanism for allegations of ill-treatment and torture by law enforcement officers, and an independent and an effective investigative mechanism for such crimes;
• duly implementing the comprehensive anti-corruption legal package adopted in October 2014, starting with setting up and ensuring effective functioning of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption;
• improving transparency and competitiveness in public procurement, notably by bringing the list of exceptions from the sphere of public procurement into line with the EU Public Procurement Directives;
• starting comprehensive reform of the public administration, and in particular of the civil service and service in local self-government bodies focusing on European principles of public administration, including by finalising and adopting the draft Law on Civil Service Reform; appointing an institution at government level to be in charge of public administration reform;
• adopting and implementing laws introducing decentralisation reforms;
• aligning energy legislation and practice with the 'Third Energy Package';
• reducing the regulatory burden for businesses and improving the efficiency of the tax administration;
• continuing to develop external audit function to strengthen the system of checks and balances;
• making efforts to meet the second phase of benchmarks set out in the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan on Visa Liberalisation;
• speeding up the implementation of the Law on Public Broadcasting, in particular by setting up a new supervisory body;
• strengthening capacity and the scope of action in institutions dealing with internally displaced persons and taking steps to facilitate the delivery of international humanitarian assistance (including taxation issues);
• continuing reforms to public finance management, in particular in the areas of strategic budgetary planning, introduction of budgetary rules, forecasting, prioritisation of investment projects, public procurement, internal control and internal audit and budget transparency.

 EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee

On the Association Agreement and the reform agenda:

1. Welcomes the signing, the simultaneous ratification by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Parliament, as well as the provisional partial application of the Association Agreement as of 1 November 2014; calls upon the remaining national parliaments of the EU Member States to ratify the Association Agreement without delay and if possible by the Riga Eastern partnership Summit in May 2015;
2. Believes that the Association Agreement has set a path of further integration of Ukraine towards the EU and that pursuant to Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, Ukraine has a European perspective and may apply to become a member of the European Union provided it respects the principles of democracy, fundamental freedoms and human and minority rights, ensures the rule of law and adheres to the Copenhagen criteria;
3. Calls upon the Ukrainian authorities to deliver tangible progress in implementing the Association Agreement and to undergo the ambitious but long overdue reforms with great determination and in parallel to the war effort; stresses the need to strengthen the rule of law and to move forward with key constitutional, judiciary and social and economic reforms; Expresses its gratitude to the European Commission for the support of reforms in Ukraine;
4. Strongly believes that an ambitious anti-corruption programme, including zero tolerance for corruption, is urgently needed; calls on the Ukrainian leadership to eradicate systematic corruption by immediate and effective implementation of the National Strategy against Corruption and stresses that the fight against this practice must be one of the top priorities of the new government and the subject of political dialogue between Ukraine and the EU, with the involvement of civil society;
5. Takes the view that it is of crucial importance to impartially and effectively investigate all major acts of violence that have taken place in all parts of Ukraine; encourages the Ukrainian authorities to swiftly take the legal steps enabling the International Criminal Court (ICC) to examine the alleged crimes against humanity as well as war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine since 21 November 2013; takes notes in this context of the Declaration adopted on 4 February 2015 by the Verkhovna Rada calling for the extension of the ICC’s ad hoc jurisdiction beyond 20 February 2014; recalls the Council Conclusions adopted on 29 January 2015 concerning the Rome Statute of the ICC;
6. Believes that civil society organisations, volunteer movements and activists can play an important role in promoting democratic change and respect for human rights; urges the EU to step up its support for civil society and the Ukrainian government to further facilitate the development of civil society organisations as well as regional self-governance reform within the framework of decentralisation, including through the educational programmes as a reform promotion tool;
7. Takes note of the EU assessment missions to Ukraine in the framework of the second phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) and acknowledges the determination of the Ukrainian government to put in place the necessary legislative, policy and institutional framework necessary to be granted a visa free regime with the EU once all conditions and benchmarks set in the VLAP have been fulfilled aiming to receive such a recommendation by the Riga Eastern Partnership Summit;
8. Welcomes the decision of the European Parliament’s Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group to select Ukraine as a priority country for parliamentary capacity-building and dialogue facilitation activities; confirms the mutual commitment of the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada to develop a support programme for the Verkhovna Rada including the enhancement of the role of the European integration committee to underpin Ukraine’s pursuit of its comprehensive reform agenda in line with the objectives set forth in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement; understands that cooperation with national parliaments of the EU Member States is also envisaged in line with this framework;
9. Underlines that the improvement of the business and investment climate and the introduction of genuine economic reforms are prerequisite for the stabilization of the economic and social situation in the country and should be conducted with a view to upcoming application of the DCFTA starting from 1 January 2016; underlines the importance of the development of free and undistorted competition of the Ukrainian market; welcomes efforts of the European Parliament that allowed timely approval of a decision on prolongation of the EU autonomous trade measures providing unilateral tariff preferences for Ukraine until 31 December 2015;
10. Realizes that it is highly important to implement structural reforms in Ukraine, to introduce effective stimuli to attract investment in real economic sector, to create highly productive jobs and integrate Ukrainian producers into global value-added chains; acknowledges the importance of creating innovation infrastructure and effective system for intellectual property protection and technology transfer in order to attract R&D centers and production facilities of multi-national corporations;
11. Reminds of the substantial financial assistance package provided by the EU and EU-based international financial institutions and welcomes the proposal by the Commission to grant a third package of macro-financial assistance (EUR 1.8 billion) to help the new reform oriented Ukrainian government financially and economically; calls for the smooth and fast completion of all legislative procedures in order to launch this new programme without delay; reminds that the EU conditionality in this respect includes judicial reforms and measures to increase transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption;
12. Invites the European Union to step up preparations for the International Conference in support of Ukraine, as well as the EU Members States, other countries, international financial institutions and investors to actively take part in it;
13. Underlines the importance of further strengthening energy security in Ukraine and Europe as a whole in order to reduce dependence on Russia’s energy resources; underlines the need for a reform of Ukraine’s energy sector and the diversification of energy supplies in line with its Energy Community Commitments inter alia by creating a market price system; believes that the reform of Ukraine’s energy sector together with the joint modernization and exploitation of the Ukrainian gas transit system with the participation of the EU companies, as well as the launch of big reverse gas flows from the EU to Ukraine and the utilisation of existing and future LNG facilities could contribute to it; calls on the EU to continue its active involvement in solving the existing problems with regard to the Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, using the trilateral format European Commission-Ukraine-Russia, in particular on the so-called “summer package”; underlines the need for large scale energy efficiency modernisation based on Energy Service Company (ESCO) mechanism;
14. Underlines that the development of people-to-people contacts, providing access for the Ukrainian youth to EU education programs as well as support of local NGOs will contribute to the development of civil society in Ukraine and will be crucial for the implementation of reforms.
15. Welcomes the finalization of negotiations on Ukraine’s associated participation in the EU Programme “Horizon 2020″; calls for a smooth and fast completion of all legislative procedures in order to sign the agreement, which without doubt will boost EU – Ukraine cooperation in the spheres of science, innovation and research;
16. Intends to hold the next meeting of EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee in early Autumn 2015 in Ukraine.