Conference in Bratislava: How to increase integration chances of Ukraine

Dátum: 30.05.2016

Visegrad Fund

The conference is part of the project Hidden Triggers of Economic Growth in V4 Plus Ukraine funded by the International Visegrad Fund. The project is led by INEKO with partners from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine.

“In fact, Egypt is poor precisely because it has been ruled by a narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people. Political power has been narrowly concentrated, and has been used to create great wealth for those who possess it (…) Wheather it is North Korea, Sierra Leone, or Zimbabwe, we´ll show that poor countries are poor for the same reason that Egypt is poor. Countries such as Great Britain and the United States became rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where government was accountable and responsive to citizens, and where great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities.”
Source: Why Nations Fail

Unable to break up corrupt structures such as the prosecutor’s office (which is even less trusted by Ukrainians than Russia’s propaganda-spewing TV stations, according to polls), Ukrainian civil society is helping to build parallel institutions. A number of cities have established new police forces to bypass the old corrupt ones. There is a National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) empowered to investigate high-level graft, a new anti-corruption prosecution service and a National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption to monitor the income declarations of government officials. (…) Establishing NABU was one of the main conditions the IMF attached to its $17 billion loan programme, which has been frozen over concerns about corruption.
Source: The Economist, Clean-up crew

“After the revolution there was also no change in the mechanisms of Ukrainian politics, where most of the parties still have an “owner”, who finances them and expects them to take care of his interests in exchange.”
Wojciech Kononczuk, Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw
Source: Ukraine’s Reforms: Promises Still Unfulfilled

Background: Since 2014 “Revolution of Dignity” Ukraine supported by the International Monetary Fund has launched a series of reforms including simplifying tax system, reducing social insurance contributions, deregulation of gas prices or setting up anti-corruption institutions. However, political turbulences in 2016 threaten to stop the reform process. For stabilization and successful integration of Ukraine, it is crucial that the reforms continue. The international community and particularly the Visegrad countries can and should give it a hand. Transferring their transition reform experience is a unique and efficient opportunity. It is also in their utmost interest because due to geographical and cultural proximity, the Visegrad countries would be among countries mostly benefiting from the stable and prosperous Ukraine.

Partner of the conference: Representation of the European Commission in the Slovak Republic

Goal: The conference goal is to discuss current reform process in Ukraine. What reforms have been adopted, what reforms are still missing and what are the biggest barriers to their implementation? How can Visegrad countries help Ukraine in identification and implementation of further reforms?

Date: June 3, 2016
Place: Representation of EC in Slovak Republic, Palisády 29, Bratislava, Slovakia

Agenda:

09:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:05 Opening remarks: Peter Goliaš, INEKO
10:05 – 12:30 First panel

Moderator: Peter Goliaš, INEKO
Panelists (each will have 15-20 minutes presentation followed by a discussion with the audience):

Lajos Bokros, former Minister of Finance of Hungary, Professor of Economic and Public Policy, Central European University, Budapest
Lívia Vašáková, Representation of the European Commission in the Slovak Republic
Michal Haman, Centre for European Politics
Kateryna Yakovenko Bosilkovski, Department of political science, Comenius University, Bratislava

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 15:30 Second panel

Moderator: Peter Goliaš, INEKO

Panelists (each will have 15-20 minutes presentation followed by a discussion with the audience):

Peter Goliaš, INEKO, Slovakia
Vasyl Povoroznyk, ICPS – International Centre for Policy Studies, Ukraine
Patryk Toporowski, PISM – Polish Institute of International Affairs, Poland
Sándor Meisel, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
Ágnes Orosz, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
Aleš Rod, CETA – Centre for Economic and Market Analysis, Czech Republic

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