A strategic meeting on preparations for meetings with the EU in three negotiation clusters was held under the chairmanship of Olga Stefanishyna

On Tuesday, February 25, the European Hub hosted a strategic meeting chaired by Olga Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice of Ukraine, to prepare for bilateral meetings between Ukraine and the European Commission within the framework of the screening process for Clusters 3: Competitiveness and Inclusive Development, 4: Green Agenda and Sustainable Connections, and 5: Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion Policy.

“Screening is an important step towards achieving European standards. This is not just a formal examination, but an in-depth analysis that will allow us to assess the compliance of our legislation with the European one, as well as to identify areas for future changes and reforms. An important component of this process is not only the technical part, but also the broad participation of all stakeholders – from government agencies to the public and business, from the Government to the Parliament. Only through open dialogue and active cooperation will we be able to ensure sustainable development and successful adaptation of national legislation to EU law,” the Deputy Prime Minister stressed in her opening remarks.

She emphasized the importance of building a regular dialog and cooperation with members of the working negotiation groups, including representatives of business, the expert community, and the Parliament. “This is the platform where an understanding of the European integration agenda is formed in a particular section; where a common position of various parties involved is formed in the course of the dialogue,” said Olga Stefanishyna, urging the heads of the negotiating groups to use this tool more effectively .

Oleksandr Ilkov, Director General of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Liudmyla Suhak, Deputy Minister of Justice for European Integration, Polina Li and Viktoriia Lobun, Advisors to the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, made presentations on the results of the screening within Clusters 1 “EU Accession Framework” and 2 “Internal Market” and on the integration of Anti-Corruption Mainstreaming into the negotiation process.

The meeting also featured a presentation of tools for monitoring and coordinating the negotiation process – the Dashboard and Playbook – developed by EY in cooperation with the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and aimed at helping Ukrainian negotiators to prepare for bilateral screening meetings in a structured and systematic way, to control deadlines and to organize the workflow effectively. The playbook contains lessons learned from the Cluster 1 and 2 screening and templates that can help in the work. Both tools are available for use by each of the negotiation teams.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, and the expert community.