Editor's Note: The Kyiv Post will be tracking the progress made by Ukraine's post-EuroMaidan Revolution leaders in making deep structural changes in the public interest. The Reform Watch project is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. Content is independent of the financial donor.
1. Security & Defense
The National Security and Defense Council approved a presidential bill improving the existing legal framework for martial law. They also decided to call for United Nations peacekeepers to enforce the abortive cease-fire in Donbas region. Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groysman approved a resolution that will suspend press accreditation to listed Russian journalists until the war in the east of the country is over. The state security service will determine the list of journalist.
2. Energy
The government proposed cutting state spending on money hemorrhaging state energy giant Naftogaz. An adjustment from Hr 31.5 billion to Hr 29.7 billion is planned. To balance the deficit, ministers plan substantial hikes on gas and heating tariffs, as required by the International Monetary Fund. But they then plan to provide an additional Hr 12.5 billion of subsidies for residents who won’t be able to pay the new bills. Experts have urged the government to gradually increase tariffs and subsidies for those most vulnerable instead.
3. Rule of law
Ukraine hired two more former Georgian reformists to assist Ukraine’s leadership. Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was appointed head of the international advisory council of reforms and informal adviser to the President. Saakashvili says Ukraine has to speed up privatization of state enterprises and cancel the decision to cut the salaries of state officials. Georgia’s former first deputy prosecutor general, David Sakvarelidze, has been made deputy prosecutor general. He will oversee the reform of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, where he will be responsible for both human resources and European integration.
4. Public administration
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved one million euros to finance a government institution that will coordinate the execution of reforms in Ukraine. The national council on reforms approved a list of 15 key reforms – lustration, decentralization, deregulation, reform of judiciary, public administration, law enforcement, defense system, health care, financial and energy sector, agriculture, education, tax system and the assigning of ministers responsible for implementation. The council also launched a system for monitoring the progress of the reforms.
Slovakia’s former Minister of Economics, Ivan Miklos, who pushed through major tax reforms in Slovakia, was appointed adviser to Ukraine’s finance minister Natalie Jaresko. He will advise on the tax system, decentralization and general reorganization of state finances.
5. Land
A bill passed by parliament on Feb.12 sets seven years as the minimum term for land lease instead of the existing 2 years, and is meant for more effective use of soil.
