On 15 March 2017, the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Parliament of Ukraine, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention organised an international conference "Political parties financing in Ukraine: current legislation, recent developments and perspectives". More than 100 participants took part in the discussions, among them representatives of the Parliament, the Central Election Commission, the Accounting Chamber, representatives of the judiciary and governmental institutions, international and national experts in political parties financing, NGOs and media community.
Mr Marten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine stated that “Corruption endangers the stability of democratic institutions and undermines the moral foundations of any society. Political parties are a fundamental element of the democratic systems of states. Political parties and electoral campaigns funding in all states should be subject to standards in order to prevent and fight against the phenomenon of corruption». In this regard, Mr. Ehnberg mentioned that “the Council of Europe provides assistance and remains committed to support Ukraine in conduct of anti-corruption and electoral reforms. Based on the opinions of the Venice Commission and recommendations of GRECO, the Council of Europe assists the Ukrainian authorities to increase the transparency of political party and pre-election campaign financing in line with international standards”.
Mr. Fabio Della Piazza, Head of Political Section, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, mentioned that “The European Union is working hand in hand with the Council of Europe on issues related to electoral legislation and in this particular regard on political party financing. Herewith, we should not forget that electoral reform is a systemic reform field that needs to be taken extremely seriously because it has a huge potential to change the political life of the country, to change the political culture and what is more important to reinforce the link and the credibility that political parties have vis-à-vis the electorate. More accountable, more transparent political parties can result in a more predictable political life and activity and enhance the effectiveness of the state institutions. The implementation of this legislation will be very important and here the National Agency on Corruption Prevention will play a key role”.
Mr. Iegor Soboliev, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on prevention and fighting corruption, noted that current legislation on political parties financing “contributed a lot to emergence of real political parties in Ukraine with different ideologies, with different people, but without catastrophic dependence on oligarchs which is the problem for the vast majority of Ukrainian political forces. And now it is important that each and every rule in this new legislation is implemented for 100%, so this law ceases to be just on paper and becomes part of people’s lives”.
Ms. Nataliya Novak, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Chair of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on legislative ensuring of activities of the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, ministries, other central bodies of executive power, as well as on the status and activities of political parties and civic associations of the Parliamentary Committee on legal policy and justice, mentioned in her welcome remarks that “When the current legislation on political parties financing was being adopted, there were many concerns. However, it goes without saying, that it is a step forward for the Ukrainian politics with regard to combatting political corruption and setting the basis for transparency of political parties funding”. Besides, Ms. Novak mentioned that the Parliamentary Committee on legal policy and justice “has already received certain proposals on possible amendments to this legislation and possible explanations of some of its provisions” and expressed her hopes that “the conference could help to find answers for many questions, to highlight key points and to discuss those proposals which could direct further amendments to the current legislation”.
Mr. Oleg Sytnyk, Deputy Head of the Department on political corruption prevention of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, noted that “albeit current legislation on political parties funding became fully effective only in 2016, good results have already been achieved, in particular, introduction of state funding of political parties and political parties reporting. From the very first political parties’ reports, non-governmental organizations, experts, citizens paid their attention to the process of implementation of new legislation. After political parties received public funding, such public interest to this issue became even more notable. However, there are still certain challenges and concerns which could be discussed during the conference”.
International experts of the Council of Europe, in particular, Mr Pere Vilanova, Member of the Venice Commission, professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Public Policy of the University of Barcelona, Mr Quentin Reed expert of the Council of Europe – Economic Crime and Cooperation Division, Mr Bertrand Simon, professor of political and social communication at the Political Science Department of the University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, Mr Yves-Marie Doublet, expert of the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption, and Mr Daniel Smilov, Member of the OSCE/ODIHR Core Group of Experts on Political Parties, associate professor of political theory at the Political Science Department of the University of Sofia, presented international standards and European good practices in political party funding in light of outstanding challenges for Ukraine.
The recommendations issued at the end of the conference will form the basis for future Council of Europe assistance in the field of ensuring transparency of political parties and pre-election campaign financing in Ukraine.
The conference was organized with the support of the Council of Europe projects “Assistance to the Ukrainian authorities in reforming electoral legislation and in conducting constitutional reform”, “Reform of the Electoral Practice in Ukraine”, and the Council of Europe and the European Union Programmatic Cooperation Framework for Eastern Partnership countries project “Fight Against Corruption in Ukraine”.
Conference materials:
- Agenda in English and Ukrainian
- CoE documents related to the transparency of political party funding
- Video from the conference in English and Ukrainian