Strengthening EU integration capacities of parliamentary committees

On January 16-18, the USAID RADA: Next Generation program conducted a training on "Approximation of Ukrainian Legislation to EU Law: Practical Aspects for the Verkhovna Rada" for representatives of the VRU Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management.

Approximation of national legislation to the EU acquis is a prerequisite for Ukraine's EU accession, so the VRU considers it one of its main priorities. According to Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishena, environmental policy requires the most legislative changes as it has received a low score in the European Commission's reports.

In order to address this, the USAID RADA: Next Generation Program helps the VRU Eco Committee to strengthen its expertise in European integration processes and approximation of the legislation to EU law.

During the workshops, the committee representatives:

• familiarized themselves with the specifics of EU law and legislative procedure;
• reviewed the experience of Central and Eastern Europe in legislative approximation;
• analyzed the methodology and evaluation of integration bills;
• discussed the methodology of compiling compliance tables and assessing the impact of legislation in the EU and Ukraine.

The training included numerous interactive tasks that participants performed in groups. They prepared presentations, tested new methodologies, developed compliance tables, and assessed the impact of laws. According to the participants, this format had a positive impact on strengthening the committee's team.