Developing civil society in Ukraine: What is the role of the mechanisms for implementing the association agreement with the EU?

Krupnyk, Andrii Article Developing civil society in Ukraine: What is the role of the mechanisms for implementing the association agreement with the EU? CES Working Papers Provided in Cooperation with: Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Suggested Citation: Krupnyk, Andrii (2021) : Developing civil society in Ukraine: What is the role of the mechanisms for implementing the association agreement with the EU?, CES Working Papers, ISSN 2067-7693, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Centre for European Studies, Iasi, Vol. 13, Iss. 1, pp. 93-109 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/286648 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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What is the role of the mechanisms for implementing the association agreement with the EU? Andrii KRUPNYK* Abstract The aim of this study is to assess the implementation of the principles of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (hereinafter - the Agreement) in Ukraine in the field of civil society development, in particular in the implementation of the National Strategy for Civil Society Development for 2016-2020 (hereinafter - the National Strategy - 2020). A comparative analysis of ensuring in Ukraine the principles of stability and effectiveness of democratic institutions, rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as agreed by the Parties to the agreement in the field of domestic policy. The analysis revealed certain deviations from the provision of these democratic principles. Requirements for the content of the new National Strategy, which is being formed for 2021-2026 (hereinafter - the National Strategy - 2026) by joint efforts of the Ukrainian government and civil society organizations (CSOs) have been formulated. Based on the study, specific recommendations were made on the implementation of the principles of the Agreement in the draft of the new National Strategy - 2026 and on the further development of civil society in Ukraine. Keywords: civil society, democratic principles, National Strategy, implementation mechanisms, intersectoral cooperation Introduction On September 16, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law on Ratification of the Agreement (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2014). This Agreement recognizes that Ukraine, as a European country, shares a common history and common values with the Member States of the European Union (EU) and is committed to upholding those values. On the other hand, the EU has recognized Ukraine's European aspirations and supports its European choice, including its commitment to building a developed and sustainable democracy and market economy. Based on the recent difficult situation in Ukraine due to the pandemic, external aggression and * *Andrii KRUPNYK is associate professor of the Odessa Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine and a member of the Coordinating Council for the Promotion of Civil Society under the President of Ukraine, e-mail: [email protected]. CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Andrii KRUPNYK 94 economic crisis, in order to adequately respond to these and other challenges, the leading CSOs of Ukraine offered their leadership and government their analytical support to analyze the situation in civil society and making recommendations on the effective implementation of the objectives of the Agreement in this sphere. As part of civil society, in addition to active citizens, we consider the following CSOs: NGOs and public unions, religious organizations, trade unions and their associations, creative unions, charities and self-organization bodies. As of April 1, 2021, there were 171,477 such CSOs in Ukraine. It is important to note that during the last year the number of CSOs in Ukraine increased by 3.0%, and the number of public organizations increased from 89,896 to 92,479, or 4.1% (State Statistics Service of Ukraine, 2021). All these organizations affect the state of Ukrainian society and its development. The aim of this study is, first, to assess the degree of implementation in Ukraine of the principles of this Agreement in the field of civil society development, in particular, in the implementation of the National Strategy - 2020 (President of Ukraine, 2016) and, second, to reflect the principles of this Agreement in the draft of the new National Strategy - 2026, which is formed by the joint efforts of the Ukrainian government and CSOs. In the course of this study, we sought to answer the following questions: 1) What are the principles and objectives of the Agreement and to what extent they relate to the sphere of civil society development and what mechanisms are provided in the agreement for the successful implementation of these principles and the implementation of tasks in this area. 2) What are the reasons for the improper organization of the tasks of the state policy to promote the development of civil society, which were clearly formulated in the National Strategy - 2020. 3) What measures and at what level of governance should be taken by the Ukrainian government to properly implement the objectives of the Agreement and the development of civil society in Ukraine. The research was based on a systematic approach and was carried out by combining general scientific and special methods, including comparative, methodological and functional-structural analysis and relied on the use of a significant array of empirical data obtained in monitoring the National Strategy - 2020 by state institutions and non-governmental think tanks. 1. The main objectives of the Agreement for the Development of Civil Society in Ukraine The agreement marked the desire of the parties to achieve closer rapprochement of positions on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest, in order to advance the reform process CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Developing civil society in Ukraine 95 and adapt Ukrainian legislation to European norms. There is also a commitment to strengthen people-to-people contacts and to strengthen dialogue based on common values, fundamental principles of solidarity, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, mutual trust, shared responsibility and partnership (preamble, Article 2 of the Agreement). The Parties shall cooperate to ensure that their domestic policies are based on principles common to the Parties, such as the stability and effectiveness of democratic institutions, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms (Article 6). In order to properly implement the Agreement, certain institutions are established to support this process - the Association Council, the Association Committee, the Parliamentary Committee of the Association, as well as the Advisory Groups of each of the Parties on Sustainable Development. These Advisory Groups consist of independent NGOs and other stakeholders that meet in open Civil Society Forums, which are usually held once a year (Article 299). The Parties shall promote the involvement of all stakeholders, in particular the social partners and civil society organizations, in the context of the implementation of reforms in Ukraine and cooperation between the Parties under this Agreement (Article 420). The Parties encourage intercultural dialogue between individuals and organizations representing the interests of civil society and cultural institutions of Ukraine and the EU (Article 438). The parties promote dialogue and cooperation between civil society actors on both sides as an integral part of relations between Ukraine and the EU, by: - strengthening contacts and mutual exchange of experience between civil society organizations in Ukraine and EU Member States, in particular holding professional seminars, professional development, etc.; - promoting the process of institution building and consolidation of civil society organizations, including, inter alia, lobbying, informal communication, visits and seminars, etc.; - ensuring that Ukrainian representatives are informed about the organization of consultations and dialogue between the social and public partners within the EU in order to involve civil society in the political process in Ukraine (Article 444). The parties agreed to intensify the exchange of information between national, regional and local authorities, socio-economic entities and representatives of civil society (Article 446). The Parties also facilitate the holding of regular meetings of civil society representatives in order to inform them on the implementation of this Agreement and to take into account their contribution to its implementation (Article 469). CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Andrii KRUPNYK 96 To this end, a Civil Society Platform is being set up, consisting of representatives of Ukrainian civil society, on the one hand, and members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), on the other, as a forum for meetings and exchanges. The meetings of the Civil Society Platform are held on a regular basis, which it determines independently. The civil society platform sets its own rules. The chairmanship of the Civil Society Platform is carried out alternately by representatives of civil society on the Ukrainian side and a representative of the European Economic and Social Committee in accordance with the provisions set out in its regulations. The Association Council informs the Civil Society Platform about its decisions and recommendations. The Civil Society Platform may make recommendations to the Association Council. The Association Committee and the Parliamentary Association Committee should liaise regularly with representatives of the Civil Society Platform in order to obtain their views on the achievement of the objectives of the Agreement (Article 469). Thus, the Civil Society Platform, which in cooperation with other institutions ensures compliance with the terms of the Agreement, is one of the influential mechanisms for implementing in Ukraine the principles of stability and effectiveness of democratic institutions, rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 2. Disadvantages of the current National Strategy In the course of the research a comparative analysis was made of the extent to which the implementation of the current National Strategy for 2016-2020 meets the above principles. This analysis revealed many deviations in the field of ensuring these democratic principles. In particular, the main tools for implementing the National Strategy - the annual government Action Plans - usually cover only part of the tasks of the National Strategy and do not contain criteria and indicators for monitoring the implementation of the National Strategy. Regional programs on promoting the development of civil society are in no way related to the government's Action Plans and only partially cover the tasks of the National Strategy. Thus, the analysis of regional programs that were approved and operated in 2017, together with the draft Programs of Odessa and Mykolaiv regions, which were published for that period, aiming to reflect the main objectives of the National Strategy for the regional level, showed that in these programs to some extent, only a little more than half of these tasks of the National Strategy are reflected (Krupnyk, 2018). CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Developing civil society in Ukraine 97 Regional Action Plans, which are developed and approved annually by oblast state administrations and the Kyiv City State Administration, have not been linked to either the annual government Action Plans or the regional programs. The National Coordination Council, which was formed from representatives of the government and NGOs to coordinate and monitor the process of implementation of the National Strategy, has not been working for a long time and has not been performing its functions. This situation arose after the 2019 presidential election and the change in the status of the Presidential Administration (which was transformed into the Office of the President and limited its direct influence on political processes). Besides, the change of the Government and, accordingly, the change of the personnel of the central executive bodies led to the loss of legitimacy of the majority of the representatives of these bodies in the Coordination Council. The regional coordination councils which were established under the oblast state administrations and the Kyiv city state administration have not yet found themselves accompanied by the implementation of the National Strategy in the regions and have not built their relations with other actors in civil society development. In particular, they competed to some extent with public councils established under these administrations. There was also the inadequate information support for the implementation of the current National Strategy. In particular, there is no information support plan for the implementation of the National Strategy. On the Unified web portal of executive bodies in Ukraine, in the section "Promoting the development of civil society" there are some materials on this topic, but there is no systematic coverage of the implementation of the National Strategy regarding its main areas and specific tasks. At the same time, the level of information support for the implementation of the current National Strategy in different regions and in different central executive bodies differs significantly. In particular, the analysis of the sites of oblast state administrations and Kyiv city state administration showed that these sites meet only 63% of the regulatory requirements for openness and accessibility of public participation (Krupnyk, 2018, pp. 25-29). And the analysis of the sites of regional councils and the site of the Kyiv City Council showed that these sites meet 65% of the above requirements (Krupnyk, 2018, pp. 29-32). There is no stable source of resources for state support of CSO activities and development. At present, at the national, regional and local levels there is a mechanism for competitive determination of programs (projects, activities) developed by civil society institutions, for the implementation (realization) of which financial support is provided at the expense of budget funds (Cabinet of CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Andrii KRUPNYK 98 Ministers of Ukraine, 2011). But, according to experts, this mechanism is imperfect and does not encourage CSOs to participate in these competitions. National CSO Forums are held sporadically, and they have not yet become effective factors in the implementation of the National Strategy, as they are mainly devoted to the presentation of CSO opportunities and donor projects. In addition, these Forums are held mainly at the initiative of NGOs and mostly at the expense of donors. At the regional level, CSO forums have not been held for several years - due to lack of resources for their preparation and conducting. As a result, regional public authorities know little about CSOs operating in the regions, let alone CSOs operating in local communities, and cannot establish partnerships with them. Systematic cooperation of the participants of the National Strategy implementation with international organizations has not been established. One of the mechanisms of such cooperation could be the Civil Society Platform, which was established in Ukraine in accordance with Art. 469 of the Agreement. But it is not yet systematically included in the process of implementing the National Strategy. The procedure for monitoring the implementation of the tasks of the National Strategy is not standardized, the criteria and indicators of their implementation are not defined through governmental and regional action plans, through regional programs. At the same time, the possibilities of modern information technologies are almost not used. Without them it is impossible to plan the process of implementation of the National Strategy and assess the degree and effectiveness of its tasks. The vertical of subdivisions of public authorities, which should ensure communication with the public in the process of implementation of the National Strategy, has practically disintegrated, and its specialists have actually "dissolved" in the system of PR support of governmental activities. Civil society organizations in Ukraine currently do not have an organized influence on the implementation of state policy to promote the development of civil society. In addition, systematic cooperation of responsible participants in the implementation of the National Strategy with international organizations for the purpose of exchanging experience and conducting external monitoring of the processes of civil society development in Ukraine has not been established. Educational institutions of the system of the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine and institutions of higher education do not systematically study issues of government-public interaction and measures to promote the development of civil society. Although now, under conditions of greater independence of higher education institutions, some of them have introduced training courses "Civil Society and Power" on their own initiative. CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Developing civil society in Ukraine 99 There is currently a lack of scientific research in Ukraine, including of applied nature, devoted to civil society and public relations. And research on the implementation of the National Strategy is carried out mainly by non-governmental think tanks: the All-Ukrainian Association for the Promotion of Self-Organization of the Population, Odessa Institute of Social Technologies, Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Studies, Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives and others. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is in fact removed from the processes of systemic development of civil society in Ukraine and does not deal comprehensively with this issue. The Verkhovna Rada does not have a single committee or even a subcommittee whose responsibilities would include the development of civil society. This topic is also absent in the Verkhovna Rada's program of interparliamentary relations. Most of the efforts of the central executive bodies involved in the implementation of the National Strategy are focused on creating legislative conditions at the national level for the formation and operation of CSOs. Regional (oblast) executive bodies work mainly with regional CSOs and are engaged in the implementation of regional civil society development programs, which only briefly relate to the local level - the level of local communities, which is essentially the basic level for civil society development. At this level of local communities, in particular, in rural areas today there is almost no systematic work on the development of civil society. In the process of reforming local selfgovernment and creating amalgamated local communities, the issues of promoting the development of civil society have been pushed to the background. With regard to the normative regulation of local democracy development at the local level, currently only a quarter of local communities have their own statutes, which should set requirements for openness and transparency of government, mechanisms for public participation. The law on general meetings (conferences) of members of local communities at the place of residence has not been adopted yet, which significantly limits the opportunities of local communities to resolve issues of local significance. The current law "On bodies of self-organization of the population" (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2001) is imperfect and inhibits the creation of such bodies at the level of houses, neighbourhoods and separate villages that are part of the amalgamated local communities. These bodies should become instruments of representation and protection of interests, in particular, of peripheral territories within the united territorial communities, of which almost 1500 are now formed in Ukraine and in which peripheral territories occupy almost 90% of the area of these communities. CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Andrii KRUPNYK 100 3. Suggestions for solving the existing problems To eliminate these shortcomings and significantly improve the situation in the study area, it is proposed to pay special attention to the implementation of democratic principles provided by the Agreement in the practice of public authorities and CSOs, in particular, through detailed elaboration and implementation of National Strategy mechanisms. These mechanisms should ensure the achievement of the goals and objectives of the Agreement in the field of democracy development and human rights protection, as well as the creation of a strong civil society in Ukraine as a guarantor of democracy and building a democratic, social and legal state in Ukraine. In particular, it is proposed to entrust the main work of the National Strategy to the government, namely its Secretariat, which should work in close cooperation with non-governmental think tanks and other CSOs. In addition, it is proposed to introduce a set of mechanisms by which it is possible to systematically and effectively address these issues. These mechanisms include: Government Action Plans for the Implementation of the National Strategy. The Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine must ensure the development of annual or biennial Action Plans for the implementation of the National Strategy no later than January of this year, organize their public discussion and submit them to the Government for approval. This Government Action Plans should provide for the implementation of the priority tasks of the National Strategy at the national, regional and local levels by public authorities with the participation of coordination councils, public councils and CSOs. The Action Plans should provide for quarterly and annual reporting on the implementation of the National Strategy of public authorities at all levels - in accordance with the Guidelines developed by the National Coordinating Council with the participation of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and CSOs. The Government, with the direct participation of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, with the involvement of national and regional coordinating councils and CSOs, organizes the implementation of government Action Plans. The Regional programs on promoting the development of civil society are developed by oblast and Kyiv city state administrations for 2021-2026 with the participation of regional coordinating councils and CSOs and approved by regional councils and Kyiv city council, respectively. CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Developing civil society in Ukraine 107 Commitment on strengthening Ukraine's political association and economic integration with the EU in order to strengthen the rule of law and promote reforms towards the realization of Ukraine's European aspirations and its European choice was reaffirmed. It was emphasized that further support for Ukraine by the EU will depend on the continuation and further acceleration of Ukraine's implementation of its reform commitments. The EU underlined the important role played by civil society, youth and independent media in all spheres of public and political life and announced new programs to support civil society. The EU also supported the financing agreements between Ukraine and the Eastern Partnership on civil society. The parties agreed to improve relations between Ukraine, the EU and other Eastern Partnership countries and to conduct a comprehensive review of the achievement of the Agreement's goals in 2021. Therefore, it is hoped that the EU's position and Ukraine's readiness to follow these principles will be an additional incentive for the entire system of public authorities in Ukraine to intensify support for the development of civil society as a reliable partner in overcoming existing challenges and solving urgent problems of the Ukrainian state. Conclusions The analysis of the process of implementation of the current National Strategy in 2016-2020 for compliance with the principles enshrined in the Agreement of stability and effectiveness of democratic institutions, rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms revealed many deviations in ensuring these democratic principles. The main reason for these deviations is the improper organization of the implementation of the National Strategy in the relevant planning and program documents of national, regional and local levels, as well as inadequate executive discipline in the system of public authorities together with the lack of effective monitoring mechanism. The way out is seen in more detailed tasks of the National Strategy to prevent the possibility of their distortion, introduction of a comprehensive set of mechanisms for its implementation with the development of a system of criteria and indicators for regular evaluation of the National Strategy with ranking of regions of Ukraine. An active position and effective participation of CSOs at all stages of formation and implementation of the National Strategy at the national, regional and local levels is a prerequisite for proper implementation of the principles of stability and effectiveness of democratic institutions, rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the implementation of the National Strategy. CES Working Papers | 2021 - volume XIII(1) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Andrii KRUPNYK 108 Building a strong civil society in Ukraine is certainly impossible without socially active citizens who directly or through CSOs defend public interests, are capable of consolidation and are responsible for their actions. Therefore, the main goal of all those who are interested in the development of civil society in Ukraine should be to promote the transformation of residents into such citizens. 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