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European Commission says reforms in Ukraine must continue
KYIV. Nov 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – There is undeniable progress in Ukraine in the implementation of reforms, including in the field of combating corruption, but they must continue to prevent a rollback, Head of the Ukraine Support Group in the European Commission, Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Katarína Mathernová has said.
Mathernova said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine that there are improvements and they are undeniable, but they must continue, because if you stop in the middle of the road, you will roll back. It is important to continue the reforms, she said, adding that there is undeniable progress, including in the fight against corruption.
She cited one example: a couple of years ago, there were manipulations with the exchange of hryvnia when some people were fabulously enriched. And this has been brought to an end when the hryvnia was released to float freely. It was a huge bold step, but it was eliminated overnight.
According to the representative of the European Commission, Ukraine certainly needs to achieve even more progress, but this is the fact that now Ukraine is a less corrupt country than it was seven years ago.
At the same time, regarding the so-called de-oligarchization law, she noted that the European Commission appreciates that the Ukrainian leadership is fully aware that in order to really achieve the prosperity and future positive development of the country, it is necessary to cope with the oligarchic structure.
She said that the signal was important for them that there is an understanding that they should do something, and do it in real time. Mathernova thinks that they still need to see how the law will be implemented. She personally believes in transparency and the establishment of various registrars, because they work, and in order to effectively resolve the problem of oligarchization, further steps should be followed.
In addition, the head of the Ukraine Support Group in the European Commission announced that the EU had adopted an economic investment plan for three regions – the Eastern Partnership, the Western Balkans and the Southern Neighborhood.
Mathernova said that from their side the focus would be put more on investment – they have a new instrument to support investments – "de-risk instrument"- these are guarantees from the European Commission to international financial institutions – partners in order to reduce the risks for investments in their partner countries, among of which there is Ukraine too. The President of the European Commission announced the intention to mobilize for Ukraine up to EUR 7 billion for investments over a seven-year period. A lot of this will be directed towards the Green Transition, a large portion will go to the digital transition, to upgrade the infrastructure, a lot will go to access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses.
According to Mathernova, this is already in the works, but this is a plan for the next seven years.
The representative of the European Commission stressed that Ukraine has a much greater economic potential than it was able to use until now. Mathernova added that there are many more opportunities now than before to attract foreign investors.
Mathernova drew attention to the potential of land reform. She said it was a historic reform, a historic change that cannot be underestimated. She hopes that the fact that this is progressing very well is a clear signal to those who previously feared that the world would collapse after this reform. This did not happen. She said she hopes that there will be further liberalization of the land market, since one of the largest assets of Ukraine is black soil.