EU no longer requiring replacing Ukraine prosecutor appointments

The EU is no longer requiring replacing the Prosecutor General of Ukraine’s appointments to the commission to establish the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn told the eurointegration.com.ua website in an interview published on Nov. 19. The EU was concerned about certain appointments by the prosecutor general, he said, but they were resolved after a meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Among the prosecutor general’s appointments remaining is Yuriy Sevruk, the first deputy prosecutor general who is widely identified as undermining anti-corruption efforts, the report said.

Zenon Zawada: The EU should not relent on this issue of establishing independent prosecutors, which is critically important for Ukraine’s future. Although conceding this issue to Poroshenko will benefit Ukraine’s attempts to achieve a visa-free regime, it’s only the EU’s leverage that can force this government to engage in painful structural reforms. Otherwise, the threat of mass protests and revolts becomes more realistic.