© EPA/ RONALD WITTEK According to her, ensuring the independence of anti-corruption bodies is key.
The damage caused by the July legislative initiatives regarding the NABU and SAPO has not yet been 100% eliminated. The trust of international investors and some partners still needs to be restored, said Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“In July, we clearly saw how fragile some reforms can be, and why it is so important to protect the fundamentals. The damage has been repaired, but not 100% yet, and the government knows it,” she said.
Kos stressed that ensuring the independence of anti-corruption agencies is key. She said their staff and leadership should “act without pressure” and their work “should be valued and properly rewarded as they investigate cases and bring them to justice.”
The European Commissioner stressed that Ukraine has made progress in the fight against corruption. However, after the July events, EU member states, international financial institutions and potential investors have lost trust.
“Before and after the Recovery Conference in Rome, I urged companies in France, the Netherlands and other countries to prepare for investment. But now there are concerns, and this trust needs to be restored,” Kos said.
At the same time, she highly praised the civic activism of Ukrainians. According to her, this is a “corrective mechanism” that arouses sympathy for Ukraine in Europe. She also noted that “recent polls show that corruption is the second biggest fear of Ukrainians.”
Kos stated the day before that the European Union would monitor the situation surrounding the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. She confirmed that she personally conveyed the EU's position to Bankova, but noted that the Ukrainian authorities were probably also afraid of public resistance.
We would like to remind you that NABU and SBU are in a standoff after the Security Service detained individual employees of the bureau and declared their work for Russian special services . The detention preceded the MPs' initiative to reduce the powers of NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. The relevant law, which subordinated them to the Prosecutor General accepted the next day , but under societal pressure President Zelensky was forced submit a bill that would repeal this initiative and restored the institutional independence of anti-corruption bodies.
In an interview with ZN.UA, the head of the SAPO, Oleksandr Klymenko, noted that pressure is currently being exerted on certain people to testify that there is Russian influence in the NABU. After the searches of the bureau's employees, all investigations have effectively stopped for a while, as many have become very cautious. Read more about this in the first and second parts of Klymenko's interview with the editor of the domestic policy department, Inna Vedernikova.
