Context
On May 27, the Parliamentary Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy held a meeting dedicated to the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2026–2030. The discussion exposed significant disagreements between parliamentary committees and political factions regarding the Strategy’s content and priorities, indicating that its adoption before the end of Q2 2026 is unlikely.
- Anti-Corruption Strategy Deadlock Risks International Support
The Ukraine Facility requires the adoption of a new Anti-Corruption Strategy and State Anti-Corruption Programme for the period after 2025 by Q2 2026.
The NACP has already completed its part of the process. The draft Strategy, prepared with the participation of more than 700 experts, was submitted for approval on 7 January 2026. The document includes reforms related to competitive selection procedures for the leadership of the Office of the Prosecutor General, National Police and State Bureau of Investigation, as well as measures aimed at strengthening NABU and SAPO.
Deputy Head of the NACP Dmytro Kalmykov stated during the Committee meeting that this version of the draft Strategy was agreed with the European Commission.
However, in May 2026 the Government deliberately submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a revised version of the Strategy that excluded key EU integration reforms related to the depoliticisation of law enforcement bodies and strengthening the independence of NABU and SAPO. In particular, those envisaged in the Joint Statement by EU Commissioner Marta Kos and Taras Kachka, as well as in the Rule of Law Roadmap.
The Government’s actions triggered a split in Parliament. Three separate versions of the Anti-Corruption Strategy are now registered in the Verkhovna Rada: the original EU-approved draft submitted by Anastasiia Radina, the Government’s revised version, and an alternative draft submitted by the parliamentary opposition.
As a result, both the timeline for adoption and the final substance of the Strategy remain uncertain, undermining Ukraine’s EU integration commitments.
- Members of Parliament Raise Doubts about EU Commitments in the Rule of Law Sector
At the same time, a member of Parliament from the Committee on Law Enforcement (from Sluha Narodu Presidential Party) stated that the Verkhovna Rada would “categorically not agree” to changing the procedures for selecting the Prosecutor General or to any “reduction of the President’s powers” on it.
The argument commonly used is the absence of officially opened clusters and, consequently, binding international benchmarks, as the Priority Plan approved by EU Commissioner Marta Kos and Taras Kachka is described as merely a “policy paper” rather than a set of formal benchmarks.
- Opening Clusters is a Real Priority
We cannot agree with such a conclusion of some MPs because the EU accession is an extremely important political shift for Ukrainians, and is not merely a formal compliance exercise with official clusters. Work on accession should continue now, because the more requirements are fulfilled before clusters are opened, the faster accession can proceed.
This once again highlights the need to open the clusters as soon as possible with a clear list of required conditions and reforms. As Ukraine’s state-building process has shown, all necessary reforms have been adopted as part of official international commitments. It will help to overcome such manipulations by officials. Moreover, there are more doubts that the Anti-Corruption Strategy will be adopted in an acceptable form recently.
At this stage, we insist that the most acceptable wording of the draft Anti-Corruption Strategy is the one registered by the Head of the Anti-Corruption Committee, Anastasia Radina, as it fully reflects the text developed by the NACP and agreed upon with the EU Commission and civil society. Conversely, the government draft does not contain key EU commitments and shouldn’t be adopted.