Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association (EBA), criticized Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk for the absence of systems and deep reforms in Ukraine in a meeting with Yatsenyuk and Ukrainian Cabinet officials.
“There is no considerable improvement of the situation, reforms as such are not being conducted, there are no deep structural reforms such as those in Georgia and Central Europe,” she said.
Among the problems Derevyanko pointed out the absence of an effective fight against corruption and systems changes in the quality of public administration, the miserly wages of public officials, which lead to corruption, the obsolete Cabinet regulations and the insufficient powers of ministers to resolve business issues, a cumbersome document approval procedure, the presence of smuggling and ‘gray’ import, etc.
“If we want to live in a new and rich Ukraine, we need investors. And they will come if the issues that I have named are resolved,” Derevyanko said.
Derevyanko pointed out some positive changes, adding that there are few of them. She also said the military action in the eastern regions of the country does not justify the absence of reforms and are not accepted by business as a justification.
“Speaking in the language of diplomats, the trust in public officials’ words is decreasing,” she said.
