Ukraine parliament approves anti-corruption legislation

Ukraine’s parliament approved on May 14 a bill to implement the state’s anti-corruption policies. Among its provisions, the law calls for creating a single register of individuals who were convicted of corruption. Authorities’ financial declarations have to be freely accessible and a new mechanism of reviewing their declarations will emerge. A parliamentary committee will also be responsible for analyzing bills for corruption.

Zenon Zawada: Regardless of the Ukrainian government’s interest in implementing the law, its significance is that it meets a key demand of the EU leadership for signing the Association Agreement in November. That comes as the European Commission announced the same day it will approve a proposal to recommend signing the agreement. Meanwhile, the ruling Party of Regions registered a bill to hold new parliamentary elections in seven districts, fulfilling another key EU demand.