On December 18, 2025, at Radisson Blu, MEZHA organized an expert discussion on the urgent need to reform the General Prosecutor`s Office, the State Bureau of Investigation and the National Police through the competitive selection of their leadership, with international partners playing a decisive role on the selection commissions.
The event brought together representatives of the EU Delegation, EUAM, 10 foreign embassies, Members of the Ukrainian Parliament, foreign institutions (OECD, GIZ, IMF, WB, CoE etc.) and civil society experts, particularly the Anti-Corruption Action Center and AutoMaidan
On 11 December 2025, the European Commissioner for Enlargement reaffirmed the commitment to advancing Ukraine’s accession to the EU. We welcome this decision, as it accelerates key reforms and strengthens the overall momentum of the accession process. European Commissioner Marta Kos and Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Taras Kachka have agreed on Ukraine’s priority reform plan, which includes revising the procedures for appointing and dismissing the Prosecutor General, as well as reforming the State Bureau of Investigation.
This year’s events, including attempts to undermine the independence of the anti-corruption infrastructure, the detention of NABU detectives, pressure on civil society activists under the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office – have made one thing clear: law enforcement reform seems more necessary than ever.
The largest corruption scandal, known as “Mindichgate”, once again demonstrated how unreformed law enforcement agencies can be used as tools of political pressure: to arrest the detective investigating your case, to compile “files” containing confidential information on journalists who expose corruption, and more.
“We have serious concerns about the references to law enforcement agencies in the so-called “Mindich tapes”. The Mahamedrasulov case was a profound shock for us. He was imprisoned entirely unlawfully. Nor can we ignore the Prosecutor General’s public statement, “I will come after each of you”. All of this poses a serious threat to democracy”, said Martina Boguslavets, Head of MEZHA.
The discussion was highly fruitful and valuable, as it brought together the perspectives of various stakeholders: the EU, Members of Parliament as the main implementers of reforms, and civil society, which sets standards and closely monitors developments to prevent any rollback of democracy. The main conclusions are summarized below:
1. Ukrainian society is grateful that EU institutions continue to ensure a strong and reliable partnership, in particular through the recent Joint Statement by Marta Kos and Taras Kachka, which launched the “frontloading” mechanism. This statement emphasizes the necessity in 2026 of revising the procedures for appointing and dismissing the Prosecutor General, as well as reviewing the work of the State Bureau of Investigation. However, to implement reforms smoothly and promptly, it was emphasized that the conditionalities must be as clear, detailed, and strict as possible to prevent manipulation and sabotage by political opponents of reform.
2. Unfortunately, Ukraine currently has three types of law enforcement authorities:
- Successfully reformed (or newly created), such as NABU and SAPO;
- Those requiring correction after wrong reforms, such as the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General’s Office;
- Unreformed, including the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine.
This year, unreformed law enforcement authorities have conducted unprecedented pressure on independent anti-corruption institutions and civil society. These structures remain politicized, and their leadership has been appointed behind closed doors without clear criteria for professionalism and integrity.
3. Participants repeatedly emphasized that the competitive, merit-based appointment of heads of law enforcement agencies, with a decisive role for international partners on selection commissions, must become the first and most urgent step in rebooting the system. The competitive leadership selections in NABU and SAPO provide a valuable model to follow.
4. The year 2026 must be decisive in finally completing law enforcement reform and ensuring the depoliticization of these institutions, which is essential for enhancing public safety and strengthening the effectiveness of crime prosecution. Ukrainian society expects Parliament to play a leading role in this process under civic oversight.
We extend our gratitude to Anastasiia Radina, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, and Oleksandr Korniienko for their leadership and consistent support of reforms on Ukraine’s path toward European integration.
This event is a part of the project “Continuing Successful Anti-Corruption (COSAC) Reform Initiative”, funded by the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) and implemented by the German-Ukrainian Bureau (DUB) in cooperation with the Ukrainian NGO Center for Democratic Transformation “MEZHA” in the EU and Ukraine.