Key reforms as well as making them sustainable and non-reversible were the topic of the Forum «Annual reform priorities: speeding the temps and providing the sustainability», which was held by the Reanimation Package of Reforms and Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law. Experts, civic activists and officials participated in the Forum. The event was supported by the European Union and the Swedish Government within the project «Enhancement of the Reanimation Package of Reforms coalition», implemented by the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law.

Hugues Mingarelli, Head of the EU Delegation in Ukraine, congratulated the participants of the Forum

«I am honored to be invited here. I see Ukrainian civic society as one of the main assets of your country. Over the past three years, you have done more than in the previous 23. To make the reforms sustainable, it must be supported not only by politicians, but also by majority of population. The changes must be a result of public engagement and policy to improve the people’s life, but not only the outcome of international institutions pressing», – he said.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, co-chairman of the RPR Board, in his opening remarks highlighted that civil society is responsible for reforms and the situation in the country.

«Many things are done but we need more. We can not ignore some problems, leave them unsolved. The country is like an organism where everything is equally important. Therefore, we proceed from the reform analysis to determination the priority between sustainability and speed of implementation of the reforms. How can we provide the sustainability and irreversibility of the reforms when apathy is widespread in our country? Together we are working on it. The main task now is to determine what is the most important in Ukrainian reforms now”- he noted.

Taras Shevchenko, co-chairman of the RPR Board and CEDEM director, thanked the international partners for supporting the reforms and underlined that 2017 will be the crucial for changes in the Ukraine.

«It is the year of high chances for positive resolutions and changes. It least 2 years to next elections. It`s time for unpopular reforms. Time to remember the promises, given during the previous elections, – stressed the expert.

In his speech, Taras Shevchenko announced 9 reform priorities for 2017

• Creating a system of independent anti-corruption judicial institutions and ensure the selection of judges through they special procedure involving international partners of Ukraine.
• Creating a new effective Supreme Court, which will consist of honest and highly qualified judges who will implement high standards of justice and will gain respect among the population.
• Reform the ministries to strengthen their capacity to develop and implement public policies (state secretaries, reorganization of the system, policy analysis, strategic planning, and employment of reformers).
• Implementation of the proportional electoral system for parliamentary elections, in which electorate will have the opportunity to vote for particular candidates in multi-mandate electoral districts.
• Adopting the law on the circulation of agricultural land that unlocks the land market in Ukraine.
• Providing the sustainable development of territorial communities through the strengthening their jurisdiction on the territories beyond the centers of population, creating the conditions for self-governance bodies to use new opportunities, provided by budget decentralization, to regulate and secure these territories.
• Creating and ensuring proper funding for Public Broadcasting.
• Creating a competitive and social electricity and heat markets, as well as providing legal basis for increasing the energy efficiency of housing sector in Ukraine.
• Approve a guaranteed level / package of medical care, financed by the state budget, and procedure of its cost calculating.

 

According to Taras Shevchenko, the main issue of all reforms is to create the new institutions of high quality. However, RPR is not limited to these areas: plans for 2017 are much wider and include many other reforms.

«Their full and quality implementation guarantee the non-reversibility of the reforms in the key areas. We must not lose precious time. It is necessary objectively estimate the progress of key reforms taking place in the country, underline the priority changes that society expects this year and discuss the factors that affect the state building processes» – he mentioned.

During the forum, Iryna Bekeshkina, member of PRP Board and head of Fundation of Democratic Initiatives, presented the national survey about attitude to the reforms.

Also were held the panel discussion «Temps vs. sustainability of the key reforms of the year», where various aspects of reforms were discussed by the experts.