USAID RADA: NEXT GENERATION PROGRAM HOSTED THE INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COORDINATION MEETING (IPTAC) TO DISCUSS THE UPCOMING VRU TRANSFORMATION FOR EU ACCESSION.

On July 27, Ukraine’s MPs and Government representatives, Croatian and Austrian parliamentary officials and donor community discussed the roadmap of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine transformation to meet the requirements of the EU and effectively harmonize relevant EU legislation, as well as to obtain the lessons learned from Croatia and Austria experience.

Ihor Kohut, COP of USAID RADA: Next Generation Program, noted that the European Commission put as the top priority for Ukraine to improve the legislative procedure and the process of impact assessment.

The leaders of VRU Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU (Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and Vadym Halaichuk) focused on the special Resolution on Ukraine’s European integration being registered in the Parliament. The Resolution was supported by Nataliya Forsiuk, General Director of the Government Office for Coordination on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, who also provided an update on the current Government's cooperation with the Parliament in processing the European integration bills.

Galyna Mykhailuk, Deputy Chair of the VRU Committee on Law Enforcement, gave an update on the Committee's work on harmonizing the criminal code with EU requirements and the establishment of cooperation with Europol and Eurojust.

Tetiana Stefiuk, Chair of the First Deputy Speaker of the VRU (Oleksandr Korniyenko) Office and a moderator of a working group developing complex amendments to the legislation in the field of parliamentary law, told about the priorities in the work of the group, including the promotion of the VRU Secretariat's institutional capacity. She highlighted that VRU had already asked the EU side to support the work group by hiring relevant experts.

Dubravka Smolić Vlaić, a member of Service for Knowledge Transfer of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia who had earlier arranged a seminar on the Croatian experience in EU accession for Ukrainian MPs, expressed the willingness to further exchange experience and expertise with the Ukrainian counterparts. She expressed readiness to cooperate with the USAID Rada: Next Generation Program and provide trainings and seminars on specific issues, engaging sectoral experts for the VR Committees.

Katharina Stourzh, the Head of a special division on international cooperation in the Austrian Parliament, underlined the key role that the national parliaments play in the EU integration processes as well as the importance of parliamentary oversight of the related government activities. She highlighted the importance of EU Support Programmes (TAIEX and Twinning) for Parliaments.

Cezar Herma, a key expert on EU legal approximation and EU acquis translation, Association4U, supported that view on parliamentary oversight. Mr. Herma presented the A4U view on the cooperation between VRU and the government in the EU integration process and their plans for future support for the government: providing sectoral experts for the Governmental office and ministries and trainings.

Mr. Kohut also emphasized the successes in cooperation with parliaments of the EU Member States and announced meetings with representatives of the Montenegrin and Czech parliaments next month. USAID Rada: Next Generation Program has already established a tight network with Czech Republic Parliament, the Western Balkans countries and will continue joint activities with them to enhance VR staff knowledge. He mentioned that the Program will support Model Committees in strengthening their expertise in the EU-related issues via exchange visits and expert support from other Parliaments, which is crucial, considering the long launch process of EU Programmes (TAIEX, Twinning). Moreover, the Program will develop special training on harmonization of EU acquis for the VR staff, which will be delivered next year.