On the way to NATO. Ukraine presents reform plan for 2024: details
On November 29, at a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council, an adapted Annual National Programme (ANP) was presented for further reform to meet the requirements of the Alliance. The approved programme consists of five sections and does not contain any demands for political reform in Ukraine. The document is not yet publicly available, but the European Pravda outlet has read its text.
According to the journalist, the adopted ANP consists of five sections:
→ political and economic issues;
→ defense and military issues;
→ resource issues;
→ security issues;
→ legal issues.
This list is the framework for negotiations on the accession of new members to NATO. Because of this, on the recommendation of the Alliance, the ANP was reworked to this format and "fit" all the objectives within each section.
The journalist emphasized that this is a positive signal, because NATO, with the help of the ANP, is not just making abstract requests to Ukraine regarding reforms, but is preparing for negotiations.
At the same time, according to the publication, the "Political issues" section should contain a priority on the fight against corruption. However, NATO will control only how the procurement of the military department is reformed, which has become one of the priorities of the ANP, the article says.
Ukraine guaranteed that in 2024 it plans to "complete a strategic review of defense procurement... with the aim of bringing Ukraine's defense procurement system to Euro-Atlantic practices" and "ensure the effective functioning of the procurement agencies of the Ministry of Defense", for which the procedures will be updated, the journalist wrote.
The outlet emphasized that success in implementing this task will be important for NATO to give Ukraine a "green signal" to implement the ANP.
Among the other tasks of the political bloc for 2024 is Ukraine's obligation to "make changes to some legislative acts regarding the strengthening of democratic civilian control over the Armed Forces" and "to complete the transformation of the command and control system in accordance with NATO principles and standards," the EP added.
However, according to the publication, this block also contains an indication of an important detail – Ukraine does not expect to complete the implementation of the ANP in 2024 and these tasks are planned for a longer period.
The journalist said that "Goal No. 1" in the political block of the program contains Ukraine's obligation to update the Law "On National Security" in order to strengthen democratic civilian control and supervision over the Armed Forces and the security and defense sector in general (which should include, in particular, the reform of the Security Service of Ukraine). However, the EP added, this is not among the tasks for 2024.
Similar signs that Ukraine is counting on a longer period of reforms are also found in other sections of the document, the outlet writes. In particular, the goal "Reforming law enforcement agencies as part of the security and defense sector of Ukraine" for the next year contains only vague tasks and a minimum of specifics.
On November 12, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen put forward a proposal for Ukraine to join the Alliance, but without the territories occupied by Russia. In his opinion, this will not freeze the conflict, but will serve as a warning to the Russian Federation that it will not be able to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
On Monday, the vice-president of the European Commission, Vera Jourova, said that an effective anti-corruption system is being formed in Ukraine, as the country seeks to start negotiations on EU membership.