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
Parliament cancelled customs duties for imported goods which are used in defense production, except for those Ukraine buys from Russia.
2. Energy
The World Bank and Ukraine’s Energy Ministry signed a deal on a $378.4 million loan meant for modernization of electricity transmission system and upgrades at the wholesale electricity market.
3. Rule of law
Ukraine got a new prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, after his predecessor, Vitaliy Yarema, was forced out for lack of progress in investigation of crimes committed by former officials. Shokin had investigated the brutal 2000 murder of prominent Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze, among other stalled cases. His critics doubt his ability to advance high-profile cases, citing his failure to bring organizers of the Gongadze’s murder to justice. He also failed to investigate and prosecute those who rigged the 2004 presidential election that led to the Orange Revolution.
Also, the parliament passed a law on public use of state money.
A public internet portal with the record of all public expenses is to be created. Lawmakers also changed the law on Anti-Corruption Bureau, introducing a new procedure for audit of its work and dismissal of the head by the president and parliament, which weakens the independence of the new body. Parliament also gave final approval to the draft law on fair trial, leaving the right of the president to appoint judges, liquidate and reorganize courts, but introducing more competitive procedure of hiring and training the judges.
4. Public Administration
The Justice Ministry conducted its first public testing of a new system that allows to run public procurement tenders electronically. It’s based on e-auctions and is a part of a comprehensive reform of public procurement system, one of the major sources of corruption in Ukraine. New systems are meant to eliminate the human factor from the tender process. The program selects the most reasonable offer and mathces it with the requirements of the procurer. The parliament gave final approval to the draft law that cancels a number of business permits and certificates and is a part of the new leadership’s effort to ease the conditions for doing business in Ukraine.
Also, the World Bank approved a $215 million loan for development of medical infrastructure and improvement the qulaity of medical service in eight Oblasts of Ukraine.
5. Land
A bill on land ownership led to a brawl on Feb. 12 between Parliament’s head of the anti-corruption committee, Yegor Sobolev, and lawmaker of Batkivshchyna party faction Vadym Ivchenko. The bill gives the right to local councils to change the end use of land allotments. “The anti-corruption committee assessed this initiative as potentially corrupt. Until a land registry is created and local elections are conducted, this law can’t be passed, “ Sobolev said. The bill did not come up for debate as scheduled on Feb. 12.
