Ukraine signed an Association Agreement, that includes the provisions for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, with the EU in June 2014. As of 1 September 2017, the Association Agreement was fully implemented, after being ratified by European parliaments and the Council.
On 28 February 2022, five days after Russia launched its full-scale, unprovoked and unjustified aggression, Ukraine presented its application for membership of the European Union. On 7 March 2022 the Council of the European Union requested that the Commission submit its Opinion on this application. EU Heads of State and Government endorsed this decision at the informal leaders meeting in Versailles, France. On 17 June 2022, the European Commission published its Opinion on Ukraine’s application for membership of the European Union in which it recommended to the Council that Ukraine be granted candidate status. During the EU Summit on 23 June 2022, the Council agreed with this suggestion and granted Ukraine EU candidate status. In December 2023, EU leaders agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and reconfirmed their commitment to continue strong support to the country and its people as long as it takes. The EU formally opened accession negotiations with Ukraine at the first Intergovernmental Conference in June 2024. On 16 January 2025, the European Commission submitted a screening report on the Fundamentals cluster to the European Council, marking the starting point for Ukraine's EU membership negotiations. The report focuses on Cluster 1, Fundamentals, which serves as the foundation for membership negotiations and also includes PAR as one of its chapters. In accordance with the negotiating framework, this cluster is the first to open and the last to close during the negotiation process. Once the European Council has agreed that the initial benchmarks for this cluster have been met, the EU Member States have presented their negotiation positions and the EU has approved its position, an intergovernmental conference will be organised. At this conference, both parties will officially open the cluster for negotiations. More information on the European Union’s solidarity with Ukraine can be found here: EU solidarity with Ukraine | European Commission.
The OECD Council, comprising the Organisation's 38 member countries, condemned Russia's large-scale aggression against Ukraine as a clear violation of international law and a serious threat to the rules-based international order in its two statements on 24-25 February 2022. Since then, the participation of Russia and Belarus in OECD bodies has been suspended, while the Organisation is working on new measures to strengthen support for the democratically-elected government of Ukraine, including for recovery and reconstruction. You can read more on OECD support to Ukraine here: Ukraine | OECD
In agreement with the EC and the Ukrainian authorities, SIGMA is currently co-operating with:
- The Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers and other key stakeholders on reviewing and updating the public administration reform agenda, as well as monitoring its implementation, and improving policy-making procedures, including strategic planning and regulatory impact assessment systems.
- The Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service on supporting implementation of the civil service reform, in particular on the remuneration system and restarting merit-based recruitment processes within the civil service; providing advice on different draft laws and secondary legislation improving the regulatory framework on public service in line with the Principles of Public Administration; and the institutional set-up of the central Government in general.
- The Ministry of Justice and other partners during the implementation process of the Law on administrative procedure.
- The Ministry of Digital Transformation and other institutions, including the Administrative Service Centres, in improving various aspects of service delivery, including on introducing quality management approaches.
- The Ministry of Finance on selected activities for implementation of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Strategy.
- The State Audit Service on further institutional clarification of internal control, financial inspection and audit functions.
- The Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture on improving public procurement legislation and implementing the public procurement reform strategy.
- The Accounting Chamber of Ukraine on implementing the new law on the Accounting Chamber and improving its activities in line with international standards for external audit.
- The Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers and relevant bodies in implementing recommendations stemming from the 2023 SIGMA assessment of Ukraine’s public administration against the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration, as well as the key actions envisaged by the Public Administration Reform Roadmap adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as part of European integration process.
Since Russia launched its unprovoked and unjustified aggression of Ukraine, SIGMA has continued supporting its beneficiaries by providing advice on various topics for which it has been requested.
