The EC’s report on Ukraine’s progress notes that Ukraine “made some progress” in the fight against corruption and “intensified reforms in this area” after receiving candidate status for EU membership.
At the same time, to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of efforts, Ukraine must continue to build a solid track record of investigations, prosecutions, and final judgments in high-level corruption cases, including the seizure and confiscation of criminally obtained assets.
The EC also noted that Ukraine should continue reforming the legislative framework to implement the recommendations from the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Decentralization must also be completed, and local self-government in the liberated and frontline territories must be gradually restored where the security situation allows.
The EC praised the reform in the selection of judges but pointed to the need to improve the legislative framework and introduce a more transparent procedure for selecting senior-level prosecutors.