LONDON – In opening the Ukraine Reform Conference in London on July 6, United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson cited “worrying signs that reform is faltering” in Ukraine.
“We’re seeing concern about the selection of new members of the Supreme Court, lack of progress in creating anti-corruption courts and obstacles faced by civil society groups,” Johnson said at the Lancaster House event sponsored by the UK government.
“We need to do more to fulfill the ideals of those who faced sniper bullets,” he said, referring to the 100 demonstrators killed the EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22, 2014.
“Corruption has to be rooted out across the board,” he said, and those who commit crimes must “face justice.”
He said that Ukraine’s prosperity “requires foreign investment,” but “investors will only do business in Ukraine if they can be sure if the integrity of courts and be certain their contracts will be upheld.”
Johnson also said Ukraine needs electoral reforms before its 2019 elections, “starting with the appointment of a new Central Election Commission and strong rules and laws” to prevent “electoral malpractice.”
He also cited the need to cut the state pension deficit and privatize the 3,500 government-owned businesses.
“Those who benefit from the old system will fight tooth and nail to keep their privileges,” Johnson said. But he said he is optimistic that the true reformers “will prevail and overcome those who obstruct Ukraine’s progress for personal gain.”
Johnson introduced Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who recited Ukraine’s progress in a number of areas, including the anti-corruption fight.
“We have created the anti-corruption infrastructure in the country, which is independent. I am sure this is the beginning of the end of corruption in Ukraine.”
Groysman said Ukraine will create a new Supreme Court this summer “which will gain the total trust from society. That is very important.”
Groysman said, however, that the fight against Ukraine’s “high level of corruption” is impeded by populists, an “old system” that resists changes and a lingering Soviet mentality.
Besides being at the frontline of Western civilization to combat Russia’s aggression, Groysman said that Ukraine is at the forefront in the “fight of democratic values and non-democratic values.”
In doing so, Ukraine will decentralize government funding and powers. “Traditionally, Ukrainian government was centralized and was a source of major corruption,” the prime minister said.
Among the challenges, however, include sovereign debt that equals 80 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product of $100 billion, “which is a massive, massive burden to the country.” Additionally, Ukraine has to spend 5 percent of GDP annually on defense because of Russia’s war. He said, however, that Ukraine will revamp its civil service, introduce an agricultural land market, privatize state-owned businesses and cut its pension deficit (Ukraine spends 12 percent of its GDP on pensions.)
However, press and public access to the UK event was very limited.
The only public part of the discussion came during a two-hour livestreamed session that, other than remarks from Johnson and Groysman, featured a long line of three-minute speeches from foreign ministers or assistant ministers, European Union leaders, representatives of international financial institutions and others.
A representative of Norway lamented that all too often “Ukrainians were offered the promise but not the content of reforms.”
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs told Ukrainian political leaders to focus on “essence not statistics” and underscored Johnson’s point that “investments will come to Ukraine if investors understand that rule of law fully applies and public administration in Ukraine is serious.”
Rinkevics said that many critics predicted the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia “will never become” members of the EU and NATO. Now all three are members of both institutions.
He said Ukraine should not be dissuaded or discouraged, but rather commit themselves to improving the nation’s democracy and economy so the rest of Europe concludes “they are like us” and that Ukrainians “deserve their place in the European family.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius warned Ukraine that “time is not on our side” because Ukrainians are becoming “impatient” and “frustrated” by the slow pace of reforms and their poor economic condition.
In response, Groysman said that Ukraine doesn’t have the money to carry out some reforms, such as education, which he estimated would cost $3 billion. With the rest of reforms, he said Ukraine’s leaders are “geared for results, not processes” and “ready to work 24 hours at day so that we can achieve that success.” (However, the Verkhovna Rada is going on a summer vacation until September after next week’s session.)
After the two-hour public portion of the event, the afternoon schedule called for a press conference followed by a four-hour closed discussion and half-hour closing session, also not open to the public. Johnson said a final public communique will be released.
The United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s broadcast of the public portion of the Ukraine Reform Conference, which took place on July 6 in Lancaster House in London.
