EU criticizes Ukraine attempt to recover e-declarations

EU officials made their position clear on Dec. 8 that
Ukraine’s recently voted law that recovers punishment for false declarations
fails to satisfy them. At a conference call with Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal, EU
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and
EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi emphasized
that the recently adopted law “even if a step in the right direction … has
several deficiencies and does not produce the necessary deterrent and
corruption prevention effect.” They offered the EU’s help “in this process”.
Interestingly, the Prime Minister’s website provided no information on such
talks.

Alexander Paraschiy: This is in
line with our expectations that
Europeans will not be satisfied with the Rada’s partial recovery of punitive
measures. Good news is despite this the EU deiced to provide a EUR 600 mln MFA
tranche for Ukraine. Since the timing of the 2021 budget vote in the Rada was
moved back as well, and with it the possibility of an EU visit, there’s no
urgent pressure to revisit the anticorruption reform issue promptly.