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2.0 Politics
2.1 Ukainian MPs may lose EU financial help, visa-free travel due to
persistent corruption
Ukrainian elites face the real prospect of losing E.U. macro-financial assistance, as well as their visa-free regime, owing to swelling corruption and attacks on Western-backed institutions, according to three European MPs, who published on October 5 an open letter to David Arakhamia, the head of The People’s Servant parliamentary faction.
They directly criticized certain MPs of The People’s Servant party for “spreading Kremlin-backed disinformation while orchestrating well-organized attacks on independent institutions like the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). These same members do not shy away from rubbing shoulders with oligarchs and ‘untouchables,’ or publicly advocating for cutting ties with the E.U.”
These comments refer to MP Oleksandr Dubinsky (among others), who leads an informal group of MPs loyal to billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, who has opposed IMF cooperation and is accused of money laundering by the US government.
The specialized prosecutor “is poised to be elected by a commission that lacks significant anti-corruption experience, reputation, high moral qualities and public authority,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General’s Office is downplaying the allegation of corrupt judges, the health minister is allegedly taking kickbacks in exchange for a position critical to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, and other state posts have been sold for “exuberant amounts of money collecting dust on the prosecutor’s table.”
All this endangers particularly the €1.2bn macro-financial assistance “not because we want it so, but because the mutual agreements that you and we concluded foresee it,” the statement said.
The E.U. doesn’t intend to abolish its visa-free regime with Ukraine, said the statement signed by Viola von Cramon, Michael Gahler and Rasa Jukneviciene. “Still, we will reserve the right to impose the specific denial of such freedoms to individual oligarchs and policy-makers who abuse this right for their private illegal activities,” it said.
“We are fully aware that besides the dozens of bad apples, your party is also a platform for energetic, intelligent and honest lawmakers who are committed to putting the country’s national interests above everything else and fighting for its European future. Unfortunately, they are the minority and thus not always heard.”
The same day, a group of 11 European MPs published a letter they signed calling upon the E.U. leadership to offer Ukraine a positive signal at the Ukraine-E.U. summit to take place on October 6, the eurointegration.com.ua
6 UKRAINE Country Report November 2020 www.intellinews.com
