On Dec. 11, the Ukrainian parliament approved a plan to bring substantial changes to defense, energy, public administration, agriculture and other sectors. Some parts of the program, however, have received criticism for bringing nothing to the table, such as no plants to reform of Ukraine’s corrupt and ineffective police.
Security & Defense
A big boost in proposed defense spending is planned — to 5 percent of gross domestic product, or five times current spending, starting next year. In 2014, the GDP may be as low as $150 billion. The government also suggests cancelling Ukraine’s non-aligned status with the goal of adopting NATO standards. The government also plans to proceed with the construction of a 2,000-kilometer-long wall to strengthen the border and protect the country from further Russian invasion. The European Union already provided Hr 235 ($14.6 million) for the first phase of the project, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. But the police reform idea fits into three points: Passage of a new law on police, creation of a bureau for investigations and a change in the philosophy of policing from punishment to helping.
Energy
Naftogaz Ukraine on Dec. 5 paid $378 million to Russia to buy 1 billion cubic meters of gas. On the same day, the company posted a new concept of standards of corporate governance for state-owned companies.
The document is a part of an effort to implement the parliamentary coalition agreement in partnership with an array of international organizations such as the Council of Europe, World Bank, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Government. The new concept is available on the Naftogaz website.
Rule of law
The government plans to write a bill on judges and the judicial system that will make it possible to have all 9,000 judges re-qualified, Yatsenyuk announced. No details are available yet. In the meantime, Interpol refused to put ex-President Viktor Yanukovych on its wanted list, apparently unsure that actions against him are not political persecution. Experts are saying this reflects both the poor quality of investigation into his alleged corruption, embezzlement and murders as well as good work by his lawyers in creating doubt about his alleged crimes.
Public Administration
A new agency that is supposed to oversee public procurement — a big corrupt hole in the natio’s budget — will be in place by Jan. 1, Ukraine’s Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili said. It will follow the Georgian experience, where public procurement, except for defense, is done through open electronic tenders and everybody can monitor it online. The pilot project on e-procurement will be launched already on Dec. 15.
Also, the government plans to adapt 3,000 technical standards and regulations to EU standards by the end of this year, Deputy Economy Minister Valeriy Pyatnitskiy said. In total, 15,000 such standards will be adopted by 2016. This should help deregulate the economy and improve the business climate, as well as cut red tape. The number of state regulatory bodies will be cut from 56 to 28 and their functions from 1,063 to 680.
Land
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers announced plans to complete creation of a land registry and introduce a law on long-term rent. The law features in the 2015 plan of action, but creation of the database for the land registry will be finished only by 2018. Agriculture is one of the only bright sectors. The government is looking for new trading partners, Yatsenyuk said.
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Post will be tracking the progress made by Ukraine’s new, post-EuroMaidan Revolution leaders in making deep structural changes in the national interest. The Reform Watch project is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. Content is independent of the financial donor
