EU Ambassador Katarína Mathernová: Ukraine’s Reform Progress Is Real — and Must Be Completed

Being European Union Ambassador in Ukraine will be my last “institutional” post.

After working in private law practice, World Bank, European Commission and my native Slovak government, I know that the most meaningful and impactful job is to represent the European Union in Ukraine. Country at war. War that matters to the future of the whole European continent.

For more than a decade, I have been connected to Ukraine and its democratic, economic and rule of law reforms. That is why I will never accept the growing narrative, re-emerging now that reforms are stalled and that “nothing has been achieved here”, especially in justice and fight against corruption.

It is not only wrong.

It is dangerous.

And deeply unfair.

This was one of my key messages in my opening speech at this week’s event “Operation European Integration: Justice Sector Reforms,” organised by Центр Протидії Корупції. 

The event included Ukrainian leaders, civil society representatives. my fellows from the diplomatic corps and other international partners.

Ukraine is doing something unprecedented. It is reforming its state and its institutions in the middle of a full-scale war.

And Ukraine has made enormous progress, since the beginning of the full scale war on 24 February and application for  membership on 28 February 2022.

But judicial and anti-corruption reforms did not start with Ukraine’s EU application. They started with Maidan. Since then, Ukraine has carried out constitutional changes, adopted key legislation, and built anti-corruption institutions that are delivering results. I showed a timeline visual charting out these achievements for everyone to see.

This matters.

Is the job done? Not yet. There is more to do.  Rule of Law Roadmap is a reliable guide.

But it is important to keep in mind that the rule of law and fight against corruption are not technical requirements for EU accession. They are the foundations of trust between the citizens and their state.

As the Head of the Office of the President, General Kyrylo Budanov said in the opening, corruption ends where manual management is replaced by clear and equitable rules.

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And as Deputy PM Taras Kachka reminded us, the rule of law is not a museum principle. It is a living one.

Ukraine has already come a long way.

Now it must finish the work.

Because in the end, the decision about Ukraine’s future in  will not be made only in Kyiv or Brussels.

It will be made by the citizens, governments and parliaments of EU Member States.

And Ukraine must be able to tell its powerful story - not of promises, but of results.