In November, the news and discussions about the European Commission’s report on Ukraine’s progress towards the EU – Ukraine Report 2024 – did not stop. The team of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition has also analyzed the document and once again confirmed that the systematic nature of reforms is the key to their effectiveness and involvement of civil society in the changes.

For more than 10 years, our Union has been working to promote, support and explain key reforms in the context of European integration. And the October report of the European Commission proves the progress we have made over the past year. In this article, we will tell you about the achievements in several areas. 

Reform of legal education 

The Report identifies the reform of higher legal education as one of the main achievements of civil society in 2024. This refers, in particular, to the Action Plan adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers in August 2024, which outlined the next steps of the reform. Thus, over the past year, a law on individual educational trajectories was adopted, which became the basis for reforming legal education standards. 

Ukraine has tightened the requirements for admission to legal specialties and held the first Unified State Qualification Exam for graduates of law faculties of classical universities.

The RPR Coalition, together with its partners, has been actively advocating in this area, in particular for a clear institutional delineation of legal education and law enforcement training. In April 2024, we held a series of thematic expert discussions and prepared a report available for review here. In addition, we have prepared a number of materials in the media and social networks to tell more about institutional delineation and its role in reforming legal education in Ukraine. 

And we will continue to work in this direction, as the delineation is a direct recommendation of the European Commission: “Ukraine should separate legal education and law enforcement training, and should further strengthen and unify legal education standards, admission, licencing and funding rules, while increasing the focus on EU law, practical legal skills and integrity.”

Trial by jury and magistrates’ courts

According to the Ukraine Report 2024, despite the full-scale war, Ukraine continues to develop its judicial system and has made progress in reforming some of its elements. The report emphasizes the need to increase public trust in the judiciary, and the European Commission suggests that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms should be developed to achieve this. 

In 2023 and 2024, the RPR Coalition worked on developing recommendations for the authorities on the introduction of jury trials and amicable proceedings. The RPR Coalition’s activities helped to engage government officials in the process of creating the necessary legislative initiatives. 

Our team has prepared reports on the introduction of jury trials and the institute of magistrates’ proceedings in Ukraine based on discussions with experts directly involved in the development of judicial policy. For example, this year in June, the report “Trial by Jury: Citizen Participation as a Mechanism for Increasing Trust in Justice” was presented to MPs, representatives of relevant ministries, judges, and the expert community. The participants agreed on the need to recommend draft laws No. 3843, 3844, 3845 for the first reading in parliament and to finalize them for the second reading. Thus, at the end of September 2024, the relevant committee recommended the draft laws for consideration. 

Bar reform 

In its Report, the European Commission emphasizes that Ukraine needs a reform of the bar. This is not surprising, as the reform is an integral part of the comprehensive modernization of Ukraine’s legal system aimed at ensuring the rule of law and effective protection of citizens’ rights. We also joined in promoting these changes by conducting an online survey on the bar reform and key issues of its implementation. The survey covered 32 representatives of the legal community, civil society, human rights activists and academics. The results are available here. 

Public consultations

The Report identifies the adoption of the Law “On Public Consultations” in June 2024 as another important factor in Ukraine’s successful movement towards the European Union (this is part of Cluster 1: Fundamentals of the accession process, read more about the clusters here). 

The RPR Coalition has consistently supported the need to create tools for citizens to influence decision-making processes. The essence of public consultations is the publication of most draft decisions or draft laws to allow citizens to comment before voting. 

In this context, our team paid special attention to the issue of extending the Law to MPs and is currently working on it. During the Forum “Democracy During the War: Ukraine’s Experience and Lessons for the World” held on November 1, 2024, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Kornienko publicly confirmed his intention to introduce a corresponding amendment to the Law to ensure that the document is mandatory for MPs, which is the result of consistent advocacy by civil society organizations. 

Oversight of the legality of decisions of local authorities and the Association of Local Authorities

In the Report, the European Commission notes the importance of multi-level governance for Ukraine’s resilience and recovery. The key is to bring Ukrainian legislation in line with the European Charter of Local Self-Government. 

During 2024, the RPR Coalition, together with the Center of Policy and Legal Reform, advocated for the draft law No. 4298 aimed at introducing supervision over the legality of local government decisions. The introduction of supervision is intended to regulate the mechanism of regional administrations’ activities in relation to local self-government bodies, which will only strengthen the sense of partnership between different levels of government and bring our legislation closer to the European one.

Recently, the RPR Coalition has begun working on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government Associations”, which was adopted in 2009 and has long been out of step with today’s realities. In the context of a full-scale war, limited financial resources, decreased influence of local self-government bodies at the national level and changes in national priorities, the issue of strengthening the institutional capacity of associations to more effectively represent the interests of local self-government has arisen (Read the Report on the Activities of All-Ukrainian Associations of Local Self-Government Bodies under Martial Law here).

Democracy in communities

The Report also highly appreciates the adoption of the law “On Democracy in Communities”, which is to be signed by the President. The RPR Coalition and the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) were actively involved in advocating for this important draft law. The law introduces tools for community residents that will allow them to directly influence and make decisions related to the development of their community. This brings us as a country closer to European policies and standards of good governance.

Administrative procedure and administrative fees

The EU noted the progress in reforming the public administration system, including the Law “On Administrative Procedure”, which was advocated by the RPR Coalition together with the Center for Political and Legal Reforms (CPLR). This was an important step towards the modernization and transparency of public institutions.

The next step is the draft law “On Administrative Fee,” the Report emphasizes. The expert community, together with MPs and all-Ukrainian associations of local self-government bodies, developed Draft Law No. 4380 “On Administrative Fee”, which was registered in the Parliament in 2020. The purpose of the document is to streamline the principles for determining the amount of fees for the most popular administrative services (there are about 150 of them), to ensure transparency of these principles, and to support the sustainable and high-quality provision of administrative services through reasonable administrative fees. 

In June 2024, the RPR Coalition together with the CPLR organized a meeting with representatives of diplomatic missions to convey the importance of adopting the draft law No. 4380.

Anti-tobacco legislation

The EU also noted positive changes in the healthcare sector regarding tobacco regulation. The RPR Coalition, together with the NGO “Life”, has been advocating for many years for a ban on the use of flavors and additives in all types of tobacco and nicotine products, which were finally banned in 2024. However, the report also points out the need to develop state mechanisms to ensure compliance with the adopted norms, as well as the need to accede to the World Health Organization Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. The RPR Coalition and the NGO “Life” are working on advocacy of the draft law No. 12091, the provisions of which implement the update of the European Integration Directive 2014/40/EU and deepen the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Lobbying

The report gives a positive assessment of the efforts of Ukrainian society to create a mechanism for regulating lobbying activities. The Law on Fair Lobbying, adopted in spring 2024, was assessed by the European Commission as “in line with international standards and best practices” and guarantees a “high level of transparency.” 

In 2023 and the first half of 2024, the RPR Coalition (together with its members – CPLR, UCIPR and other civil society organizations) actively contributed to minimizing the risks of pressure on civil society by the tools laid down in the draft law and improving the quality of the text. For example, we held meetings with the then Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna to discuss the key positions of the document, and later – with diplomats to draw the attention of the international community to the draft law. The RPR Coalition maintained systematic communication with the working group headed by Denys Maslov, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy. The key question we faced was how to fulfill the EU’s requirement without harming Ukraine’s interests. Details can be found in the material. 

Conclusion

The new report of the European Commission is a good opportunity to see Ukraine’s progress in implementing reforms through the eyes of our partners in the EU, to draw conclusions about the path already taken, and most importantly, to outline the next steps. With this material, we have summarized, among other things, our proactive work to implement the necessary changes that gradually bring us closer to full membership in the European Union.

Olga Lymar, Executive Director of the RPR Coalition, emphasizes: “The process of implementing reforms is a long game and definitely not a sprint. This is evidenced by the fact that advocacy of some draft laws may take almost ten years and more than one convocation of the Parliament.” 

Therefore, it is important to remember that the steps we are taking right now to implement reforms both help us become more resilient and our democracy more effective, and at the same time bring us closer to EU membership. Olga Lymar adds: “The further process of implementing most of the reforms, especially after the official start of the negotiation process, will essentially mean the process of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union.”  

As a result of advocacy, our organization has made a significant contribution to the promotion of draft laws and other initiatives aimed at improving the relevant areas of public life and implementing European standards in the legislative framework of Ukraine. We managed to draw attention to urgent issues, influence responsible decision-making and strengthen the principles of democracy and accountability in decision-making processes. Let’s change Ukraine together!