EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee Seventh Meeting
18-19 April 2018
Strasbourg
FINAL STATEMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS pursuant to Article 467(3) of the Association Agreement
The seventh meeting of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee (PAC) was held in Strasbourg on 18-19 April 2018, and was co-chaired by Mykola Kniazhytskyi on behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and Dariusz Rosati on behalf of the European Parliament.
The Parliamentary Association Committee, having considered the state of play of EU- Ukraine relations, the implementation of the Association Agreement and the overall security and political situation in Ukraine, agreed upon the following final statement and recommendations.
The Parliamentary Association Committee (PAC):
…19. Reiterates its views that an effective fight against corruption is paramount for the success of the entire reform process; appreciates the progress made to consolidate the anti-corruption institutional architecture and close the space for corruption in numerous sectors; regrets however the lack of progress on the verification of e-declarations by the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC); welcomes the adoption in first reading by the Verkhovna Rada of the law on the establishment of a High Anti-Corruption Court, but believes that further work is required in order to align the law with the recommendations by the Venice Commission; expresses concerns at the illegal disclosure of data linked to investigative or search actions of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU); stresses the importance to preserve independence of NABU and SAPO and their institutional capacity to investigate and prosecute impartially top corruption cases;
20. Regrets that the Ukrainian Parliament failed to pass laws that would abolish e-declaration requirements of the law obliging civil society activists working in the field of anti-corruption; calls for the necessary measures to be urgently taken to cancel it.