Sergii Marchenko and Representatives of the European Commission Discussed Next Steps of Cooperation

On April 27, 2021, Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko met with the Head of the European Commission Support Unit for Ukraine, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) Katarina Mathernova. During the meeting, they discussed the following steps of cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and the European Commission: the formation and implementation of the Public Financial Management Strategy (PFMS) for 2021-2025, Development of the Public Financial Management Program in Ukraine (EU4PFM), creation of the Economic Security Bureau and continuation of cooperation with the IMF.

"We are grateful to the European Commission for its support and assistance in December 2020, namely for the disbursement of the first tranche of EUR 600 million within the current MFA Program. Now the Government of Ukraine and the Ministry of Finance are doing everything possible to meet the preconditions of our Program and to receive the second tranche from the EU in September 2021", - Sergii Marchenko said.

As a reminder, the Ukrainian party must fulfill several commitments to receive the second tranche (EUR 600 million) by carrying out reforms in such areas as public finance management, good governance and the rule of law, improving the business climate, sectoral reforms, and state-owned enterprises.

Also, Sergii Marchenko thanked for the cooperation with the European Union within the framework of the EU4PFM program. This program is the largest both in terms of coverage of areas of reform, and amount of support.

"For two years of EU4PFM implementation we managed to achieve significant positive results, namely in reforming of legislation and institutions in tax and customs spheres, development of IT systems and general coordination of the PFMS, institutional development, and modernization of human resources management system of the Ministry of Finance and the Accounting Chamber", - noted the Minister of Finance.

During the last 6 months, the Ministry of Finance has been finalizing the draft Strategy for reforming the PFMS until 2025 and the relevant action plan, taking into account the current priorities of the public finance reform, the results of the PEFA assessment, and the recommendations of international partners.

"After coordination with the interested ministries, the relevant draft decision of the Government will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration. We expect its approval in the second quarter of this year," said the Minister of Finance.

Sergii Marchenko also commented on the current state of the negotiations with the IMF: "Today Ukraine is in active discussions with the IMF to address three main issues: maintaining the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, holding competitions for positions in the High Council of Justice and implementing the law on criminal liability for false information in declarations. Other issues related to budgeting, budget consolidation, the National Bank of Ukraine and energy have already been resolved. Now we are actively working on implementing commitments in the field of anti-corruption and law.

In addition, the Minister noted that the Ministry of Finance is ready to support the creation of the Bureau of Economic Security in Ukraine.

At the end of the meeting, Sergii Marchenko thanked the representatives of the European Commission for cooperation and expressed hope for the speedy fulfillment of all commitments by Ukraine and receiving the second tranche in 2021.