On January 9, the Government Committee on National Security and Defense and Law Enforcement reviewed the draft of the State Anti-Corruption Program (the Program). The meeting of the Government Committee was held in an expanded composition - all authorities involved in the preparation and future implementation of the Program were invited to participate in it. 14 of them presented their comments on the project at the meeting of the Government Committee and asked for additional coordination procedures. After finalization of the Program draft, taking into account these procedures, it must be re-examined and approved by the Government Committee and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for approval by January 23.
We will remind you that the Anti-Corruption Strategy until 2025 was approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and entered into force on July 10 last year. The adoption of the Strategy was one of the informal requirements for granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership.
In order to implement the Strategy, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has developed a Program draft with the involvement of the biggest possible range of interested parties. On December 10, 2022, within the deadline set by the legislation, the NACP submitted the draft of the Program for consideration by the Government, which was supposed to consider and approve it by January 10.
Currently, additional coordination procedures with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry for Strategic Industries, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Office of the Business Ombudsman, the NBU, AMCU, the Council of Judges and the School of Judges are ongoing to implement the decision of the Government Committee.
The greatest resistance to the prospect of painful treatment is shown by the spheres most affected by the disease of corruption - Andrii Vyshnevskyi
"It is worth noting that the very nature of the Program is such that it is unlikely that it will be possible to settle all disagreements with the bodies that are its potential executors. Just the presence of insurmountable differences with the anti-corruption body may indicate that the proposed anti-corruption measures are relevant. Treatment measures, which can be painful, cause resistance in areas that are most affected or may be affected by the disease of corruption", - Deputy Head of the NACP Andrii Vyshnevskyi commented on further actions regarding the Program.He noted that the central bodies of the executive power were actively involved in the development of the Program draft during the last five months. EU experts and more than 30 Ukrainian scientific and expert institutions were also involved in the most transparent and inclusive manner. 11 public discussions of the Program draft were held. In total, the draft was sent for approval to 140 interested bodies. A response was received from 125 of them, two-thirds approved the draft without comments. The draft is fully supported by the Supreme Court, NABU and SAPO.
“In total for all 125 bodies: 60% of comments were fully or partially taken into account, 40% were not taken into account. In our opinion, this is a completely reasonable compromise that allows us to take into account the opinion of the interested bodies as much as possible and at the same time not to lose the focus of the Anti-corruption Strategy itself”, — Andrii Vyshnevsky emphasized.According to him, all remarks that make the Program deeper and more professional have been taken into account. The biggest opposition, in particular, relates to measures aimed at reducing oligarchic influence and settling the conflict of interests of judges, members of the HCJ and HACC. "Implementation of the Anti-corruption Strategy will accelerate the development and recovery of the economy, will contribute to the transparent reconstruction of Ukraine and the path to and after victory, and will bring membership in the EU and NATO closer. The approval and implementation of the State Anti-Corruption Program are critically important in order to have a renewed Ukraine with a government with integrity and a just society”, — stressed the Deputy Head of the NACP. For reference: 1,730 measures of the State Anti-Corruption Program for 2023-2025 are aimed at solving 72 problems and achieving 272 expected results defined in the Strategy. Structurally, measures are grouped into three blocks:
- Increasing the effectiveness of the anti-corruption system.
- Ensuring the inevitability of responsibility for corruption.
- Prevention of corruption in such priority areas as defense; justice; the real sector of the economy; state regulation of Economy; customs affairs and taxation; construction, land and infrastructure; health care; education and social protection.
The greatest resistance to the prospect of painful treatment is shown by the spheres most affected by the disease of corruption - Andrii Vyshnevskyi
