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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The NGOs emphasized that the strategy must be adopted in full, not just in the first reading for reporting purposes.
More than fifty civic organizations are demanding that the Verkhovna Rada urgently consider the draft Anti-Corruption Strategy of Ukraine for 2026–2030 and approve it both as a basis and in full. The joint statement was published on the website of the NGO "Anti-Corruption Hub."
"We are convinced that this is not a technical delay in considering this bill. Almost all provisions of the Strategy have already been agreed with parliamentary factions, committees, and interested government bodies. At present, a few provisions remain unresolved, which constitute less than 1% of the document's text. It is precisely these provisions that limit possible political influence over the law enforcement system," the statement says.
The signatories stress that the Anti-Corruption Strategy does not automatically change legislation. Separate laws will need to be passed for each of the envisaged reforms. However, deputies currently do not even want to commit to carrying them out.
"The cost of not making this decision is measured in billions of lost funds for the budget. Adoption of the Strategy is a condition for receiving about 420 million euros, i.e., more than 21 billion hryvnias, under the Ukraine Facility plan. Another 64,4 million euros is tied to the approval of the State Anti-Corruption Program. Ukraine has already missed two deadlines for fulfilling this obligation. A country at war is losing European funds because some politicians are unwilling to give up control over the security forces," the statement notes.
Adopting a new Anti-Corruption Strategy is Ukraine’s commitment on the path to eurointegration. The same strategy is also foreseen in the interim benchmarks of EU accession negotiations, the roadmap in the rule-of-law sphere, and the European Commission’s recommendations in reports on Ukraine’s progress in 2024 and 2025. Each postponed session, the signatories emphasized, signals to partners that the Ukrainian authorities are not ready to fulfill the commitments they have taken on.
"The first reading is only half the job. We warn against a scenario in which the strategy is adopted as a basis for reporting to partners, and by the second reading the aforementioned unresolved provisions are removed. Such a document would be adopted only formally, while the political control over the law enforcement system that it was meant to limit would remain unchanged. The Ukraine Facility requires the final adoption of the Strategy, and international partners will assess its content, not its title," the signatories state.
The civic organizations demand that the Verkhovna Rada:
urgently include on the agenda the draft Law "On Approval of the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2026–2030" No. 15230-d dated 27.07.2026 and consider it at the next plenary session;
approve the bill as a basis and not remove provisions that limit political influence over NABU, SAP, SBU's investigative functions, the prosecutor’s office, and the National Police, and that provide for a reform of the bar association;
adopt the Strategy in full, without deleting or weakening provisions concerning the powers of the head of SAP, the competitive selection of leaders of law enforcement agencies, the participation of independent experts, the reform of the bar, and changes to the criminal procedural legislation.
It should be noted that deputies' resistance is primarily triggered by the Strategy’s proposed revision of the so‑called Lozovyi amendments, changes to Article 49 of the Criminal Code regarding statutes of limitations, and an expansion of NABU’s jurisdiction. Also sensitive is the question of the powers of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. Also on the list are the participation of international experts in competitions and in evaluating the work of anti-corruption bodies, appointments of leaders of law enforcement agencies, as well as reforms of the State Bureau of Investigations and the bar.
In the article "25 billion for the right to control the security forces. Why the Rada is blocking the Anti-Corruption Strategy," Kateryna Butko, head of the All-Ukrainian Association "Avtomaydan," and Martina Bohuslavets, head of the Anti-Corruption Center "MEZHA," analyze the political cost of this resistance.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "«Євроінтеграційне зобов’язання»: громадські організації закликали ВР ухвалити Антикорупційну стратегію". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
