24 April 2023, the presentation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” (2023-2026) and its Steering Committee meeting took place in Kyiv, Ukraine today. The Action Plan was developed in close consultation with Ukrainian stakeholders. It is part of the Council of Europe contribution to the rebuilding process and recovery of the country, faced with the brutal aggression of the Russian Federation and immense destruction, and to strengthening the resilience of Ukrainian public institutions, enhancing democratic governance and the rule of law, and protecting fundamental rights of the citizens.

The Action Plan will support the country’s efforts to honor its obligations as a Council of Europe member State and implementation of the European perspective reform agenda, following the decision by European Council in June 2022 to EU candidate status to Ukraine. The overall budget for the four-year co-operation framework is estimated at €50 million, making it the largest ever budget for a country-specific Council of Europe Action Plan.

The event gathered representatives of the government, national and local state administrations and self-governing bodies, members of the Ukrainian parliament, stakeholders of judiciary, criminal justice and law enforcement areas, mass media, members of NGOs and civil society organisations in Ukraine

“During the next four years, we will continue working with the Ukrainian authorities to address their needs and priorities notably in the areas of constitutional justice, combatting corruption and money-laundering; developing an independent, effective and trusted justice; promoting freedom of expression and freedom of media,  strengthening protection of the rights of national minorities,” said Dr Claus Neukirch, Director of the Directorate of Programme Coordination of the Council of Europe.

Mr Valentyn Skuratovskyi, Director, Department General for International Organisations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, mentioned: “In this difficult time for Ukraine, the support of the international community, our global partners and like-minded people is very important. I am sure that after the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe, this organisation unites those who are united in the opinion that the reign of hatred in the world is inadmissible”. Mr Skuratovskyi also added: “We want to come out of this war not only with victory over the aggressor, about which there is no doubt, but also become a stronger democracy, which in terms of the stability of its institutions fully meets European standards”.

“The Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” is an important document aimed at finding solutions to the main challenges facing Ukraine and our democracy today. We are grateful to the Council of Europe for its readiness to support Ukraine in solving them, in particular, in the part of the development of democracy, governance, and the electoral process. We expect the same constant support at the specific stages of implementing these plans,” stressed First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mr Oleksandr Korniyenko.

With the resources already raised, the Council of Europe have started implementation of the projects covering the following areas:

• strengthening implementation of the ECHR and other Convention-related issues in the times of war,
• supporting the process of collecting, documenting and investigating gross human rights violations in the war context,
• improving systems and protecting the rights of IDPs and the war-affected people,
• supporting execution of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights, 
• fighting discrimination, promoting equality and dignity, increasing effectiveness of institutional mechanisms and multi-agency coordination at the national and local level to prevent gender-based violence,
• supporting the functioning of judiciary,
• strengthening democratic governance, including through gender responsive mechanisms, to better enable decentralisation and local government reform,
• ensuring freedom of media and strengthening the ethics, safety and protection of journalists in line with Council of Europe standards and the case law of the ECtHR,
• empowerment of civil society and strengthening young people’s role in decision-making, etc.

The participants of the meeting repeatedly emphasized the positive results of the previous cooperation between Ukraine and the Council of Europe regarding the introduction of the best European practices and standards in the sphere of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine. They also expressed readiness for the further work within the framework of the new Action Plan for strengthening internal reforms, countering Russian aggression and getting closer to EU membership.