The Civil Society Perspective: Country Report Ukraine

This report offers the perspectives of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum member organisations from Ukraine on the future of the Eastern Partnership following its tenth anniversary year. It is one of a series of six country reports, with other editions covering Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova.

The findings presented here are the result of a comprehensive process of internal consultation, conducted in October 2019 in order to inform the EaP CSF’s response to DG NEAR’s structured consultation on the Eastern Partnership beyond 2020. The report covers the following fields:

Economic and Human Capital Development: The results of the online survey of Ukrainian organisations suggest that the most urgent and effective measure through which the EU should support sustainable economic development in the EaP region is to invest in sectors with potential for development, growth and competitiveness in the EU single market in each EaP country (27%).

Good Governance, Rule of Law, Security Cooperation: In order to support good governance and rule of law reforms in the EaP countries, a plurality of
respondents in Ukraine (41%) suggest the EU should focus on strengthening the role of civil society in policy formulation, choosing bona fide organisations.

EU-EaP and Intra-EaP Cooperation: Ensuring Inclusiveness and Differentiation: According to 41% of respondents to the survey, inclusiveness and differentiation in EaP relations with the EU should be pursued through developing a distinctive track for cooperation for the three AA/DCFTA countries with the EU (possibly open to Armenia), as the existing format of the EaP has been slowing down the integration process of the AA/DCFTA countries.

Boosting EU Visibility in the EaP Region: The results of the online survey of Ukrainian organisations suggest the most urgent and effective measure that the EU should support to enhance its visibility in the EaP region is prioritising funding for local projects raising awareness about the EU in small towns and regions and going beyond EU-minded cohorts (chosen by 38% of Ukrainian respondents).

Strengthening the Role of Civil Society: While the majority of respondents from all EaP countries indicated enhancing the role of CSOs in policy implementation as the most urgent and effective measured to increase civil society’s involvement in the EaP policy, Ukrainian respondents pointed to the following three as the most effective measures: (1) to include mandatory multi-stake-holding monitoring for EaP governments in the assessment process in EaP countries, following the practice already established in Ukraine; (2) to enhance the role of the National Platforms of the EaP CSF as a third party in official EaP documents and give them concrete implementation roles; and (3) to establish permanent working groups involving civil society representatives and other nongovernmental actors, tasked with supporting the implementation and monitoring of the cross-cutting deliverables.

The EaP CSF prepared its response to DG NEAR’s structured consultation on the future of the Eastern Partnership by launching a comprehensive process of internal consultation of its membership base. The internal consultation was based on three pillars: six in-country focus groups, four online focus groups and one online questionnaire combining qualitative and qualitative elements. Over 200 civil society organisations participated in at least one pillar of the consultation. The resulting report offers a detailed overview of the input received from Ukraine. A total of 42 Ukrainian civil society organisations participated in the consultation process (one or more pillars): 31 organisations took part in the online survey, eight took part in the in-country focus group and three in the online focus groups. The report also reflects the document ‘Position of the EaP CSF Ukrainian National Platform on the future of the Eastern Partnership in the context of the EU’s structured consultations’.

Available for download

Report: Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Structured Consultation on Eastern Partnership. The civil society perspective: Country Report Ukraine, March 2020