Experts say countries seeking EU membership are rushing to pass EU-aligned laws while sidestepping rule-of-law standards, or failing to make enough progress on transparency and anti-corruption efforts.
Leaders from the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe hoping to join the EU have had a historic month, witnessing the opening of Ukrainian and Moldovan accession negotiations after two years of blockade due to former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s veto.
But NGOs have now warned of a slowdown in their transparency efforts.
For Ukraine, experts argue that Kyiv had used Hungary’s veto threat as a shield, delaying some of the work needed to strengthen transparency and anti-corruption safeguards. “Progress on anti-corruption reforms has been uneven and quite limited,” said Oleksandra Misiura of watchdog group Transparency International Ukraine at an event in Brussels on Wednesday (24 June).
While Kyiv has introduced a new public procurement law aimed at aligning its system with EU standards, Misiura said legislative progress had stalled. “We’ve had a halt in legislative initiatives being adopted by parliament, and the only impetus we could get for MPs to vote on certain laws was when they were linked to European integration,” she told EUobserver.
