The issue extends beyond the United States
worrying about provoking President Vladimir Putin. US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Melia bluntly remarked during a
panel at the Yalta European Strategy recently held in Kyiv that the
lack of significant reforms in Ukraine has engendered growing alarm
and mistrust in Washington. In private discussions with the author,
ambassadors to Ukraine from certain key European Union countries echo
these concerns – what if Ukraine’s Soviet-era generals sell the
equipment to the terrorists; or, worse, what if no reforms take
place, Ukraine descends into chaos and Russia romps in to pick up the
pieces?

Unfortunately, the apparent loss of faith
internationally is reflected in the frustration of Ukrainians with
the slow pace of reform of Ukraine’s governing institutions. Even
the Prime Minister at the YES conference regrettably admitted that
the government has “failed” to fight corruption (although, in
fairness, there have been improvements in some areas, including
higher education and public procurement).

Nevertheless, Russia’s escalation of the
conflict seems to be slowly turning the tide of opinion and there is
palpable growing recognition in Western capitals that it is in their
interests to provide Ukraine with an enhanced military capability,
but under the right circumstances. The term “there is no
military solution to this conflict” is probably now code for
“show us you’re serious about reforms and then we’ll
reconsider.”

The equation is very simple:
Ukraine needs a robust army; to afford an armed forces properly
equipped to meet the threat it faces, Ukraine needs dynamic economic
growth; Ukraine will not achieve these results so long as
institutional corruption remains unchecked. In short, no reforms
equals little support.
To
secure the support of its allies, Ukraine must therefore ensure that
its governing institutions operate and function according to the
values and principles underpinning the Euro-Atlantic system of
economic and collective security.

If
they adopt reforms in three key sectors, the government and president
will have a compelling story to tell. These are neither new nor
controversial; indeed, the bulk of these reforms are integral parts
of the International Monetary Fund aid package, the EU Association
Agreement, the Copenhagen Criteria for EU accession and entry into
NATO; all have been on the table for years and most
are
ready for implementation.
1.
Lustration of the judiciary.

The adoption of a law securing judicial independence (formulated in
2006) and lustration of at least the superior administrative and
commercial court judges is the litmus test for the viability and
seriousness of all other reform efforts; the protection of the rights
of persons, including their property rights, and holding government
officials publicly accountable for their actions lie at the heart of
the rule of law and a competitive economy. To restore the legitimacy
of the judiciary, judges must undergo rigorous vetting and new
European standards must be established for their appointment; the
hallmark of any credible justice system is that justice must not only
be done, but it must be seen to be done. The same goes for reforms.

These measures should be immediately followed
by an overhaul of Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies, especially
the police (encouragingly, the Minister of Interior has posted just
such a plan on his Facebook page) and the transformation of the
prosecutor’s office, which still operates pursuant to its Stalinist
origins.

2. Institutional reform:
decentralization and reform of the civil service and the executive.

No fight against corruption will succeed without the
de-sovietization of Ukraine’s centralized vertical of power. The
opaque and arbitrary command-administrative decision-making system
inherited from the Soviet Union must be scrapped in favor of
democratic governance based on the principles of transparency,
accountability and subsidiarity (the EU’s term for effective
delivery of public services to the consumer at the local level).

A plan to separate the functions of the
executive and local governments (including limiting the number of
inspection agencies), decentralize the budget process, pay civil
servants a living wage so that they have less incentive to engage in
rent-seeking behavior, and to limit contact with officials through a
system of e-governance, was approved by the government on April 1
this year. Properly implemented, these reforms could be a
“game-changer” in removing the institutional basis for
corruption.

3. Abolish immunity for
deputies and revamp the electoral system.

A throng of young Maidan activists is seeking to enter the Verkhovna
Rada. A good test of their reformist credentials would be for them to
put to a vote the abolition (except for statements made on the floor
of the Verkhovna Rada itself) of the immunity from criminal
prosecution they will now enjoy as Peoples’ Deputies.

This is no small matter: by standing up the for
the principle of equality of all citizens before the law, the
activist-deputies would demonstrate that that they are true to the
principles of the Revolution of Dignity and are serious about
fighting corruption.

They can further earn the trust of the people
by introducing and shaming any reluctant colleagues into voting for
electoral reform, especially open party lists, transparency in
campaign finance for all parties, and the requirements for deputies
to declare their assets (and expenditures) and those of their
immediate family members.

These reforms will create the impetus to
address Ukraine’s pressing socio-economic challenges in order to
generate economic growth: de-monopolizing Ukraine’s
oligarch-dominated economy and revitalizing the investment
environment by enhancing competition, implementing pensions and labor
reform, and overhauling the regulatory and tax systems.

In summary, Ukraine’s strategic response to
Putin’s long game in Ukraine should be to attract Western
investment on a scale that exceeds that made into Russia; Western
governments will be more amenable to assisting Ukraine if they can
explain to their citizens that many of their jobs would be a stake in
the absence of such support.

The government should enact these reforms now –
Ukraine’s future depends on it.


Daniel
Bilak is

a Kyiv-based international lawyer. The views expressed are his own.

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