The first session of European integration training on the topic "Approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU acquis: principles and tools" took place on October 3-4. For two days, the employees of the Secretariats of the Committees and the Research Service of the VRU studied the basics of European Union law and discussed the principles and tools of adapting Ukrainian legislation to the EU acquis.
Mykhailo Teplyuk, the Deputy Head of VRU Secretariat - Head of the Main Legal Department, gave the opening speech. He emphasized that quality and systematic approximation of national legislation to EU law is one of the Parliament's priorities. This intention is already reflected in VRU's resolution of July 28, which established special subcommittees on issues of adapting Ukrainian legislation to the provisions of EU law and fulfilling Ukraine's international legal obligations regarding European integration.
At the same time, Mr. Teplyuk noted that the VRU Secretariat did not hold competitions for new positions, and the staff was not increased after establishing the European integration subcommittees. That is why the corresponding job duties were entrusted to the ordinary employees of the Committees' Secretariats. It leads to the urgent need to provide them with specialized knowledge in European integration and EU acquis to perform tasks successfully.
Mykhailo Tepliuk, Deputy Head of the VRU Secretariat: “Working on European integration laws requires committees' secretariat staff to have the proper knowledge. I believe we will be able jointly to fulfill this crucial historical task that the current generation of Ukrainians has faced. So, I hope the legislation approximation will be implemented at the appropriate level.”
International partners - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the EU Delegation to Ukraine, who finance European integration training for the Verkhovna Rada and promote the development of democracy in Ukraine - congratulated the participants. According to them, the relevance and necessity for quality adaptation of national legislation to EU law have increased, especially after Ukraine acquired EU candidate status.
Marc Ellingstad, Director of USAID Democracy and Governance Office: “Our Program RADA: Next Generation is aimed at ensuring that the institutional and analytical capacity of the Parliament allows for effective consideration and adoption of legislative acts. I hope that these trainings will help you become acquainted with EU law, that Ukraine must approximate, and deal with the interpretation of EU legal acts.”
Xavier Camus, Head of the Good Governance and Democratisation Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine: “It marks the beginning of a continuous learning process to build strong expertise of the Parliamentary Secretariat on EU law and legal approximation techniques. It’s essential because it helps to prepare high-quality legislation better and oversee its implementation by executives.”
The participants deepened their knowledge of EU acquis on the first day of the training. Experts talked about EU law-making powers, types of sources of law, and types of EU legal acts. The second training day was devoted to Ukraine's European integration and the approximation of national legislation to the European one. During the workshops, experts talked about:
Cezar Herma, Key expert on EU legal approximation and EU acquis translation, who leads this training, considers the Ukrainian legislation adaptation as a large-scale and essential task: "As a candidate for EU membership, Ukraine has to adjust its legislation to the entire EU acquis. In the framework of the EU accession process, almost all areas of Ukrainian legislation will be, to a greater or lesser extent, subject to approximation to EU law. It means VRU will deal more frequently and intensively with EU legal acts. Therefore, it requires strengthening VRU institutional and expert capacity."
Experts also discussed with participants the practical aspects of developing and using different compliance tables, had active discussions on state bodies' capacities, and expressed their caveats regarding possible changes to the VRU regulations. According to experts, quality approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU acquis is crucial for quick and successful Ukraine's European integration.
More than 70 employees of VRU Committees' Secretariats and the VRU Research Service registered to participate in the training. They were divided into two groups. Online workshops for the first group took place on October 3-4, and the training session for the second one was scheduled on October 10-11. A short European integration training session is also expected later for Ukrainian MPs who are members of subcommittees on European integration.