European Court of Auditors

09/17/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/17/2021 01:12

Upcoming report on the EU action to tackle grand corruption in Ukraine

​​On Thursday 23 September, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) will publish a special report on the EU's support for increasing the rule of law and fighting grand corruption in Ukraine.

​​ABOUT THE TOPIC

​​Ukraine suffers from pervasive grand corruption and the influence of an oligarchy, both of which severely hinder the country's economic growth and social development. In Ukraine, grand corruption and state capture is based on informal connections between government officials, members of parliament, prosecutors, judges, law enforcement agencies, managers of state-owned enterprises and politically connected individuals and companies.

​​Because the rule of law is a founding value of the EU and a guiding principle of its foreign policy, the fight against corruption is a key element of EU aid to Ukraine.

​​ABOUT THE AUDIT

​​The EU auditors have assessed whether EU support for reforms in Ukraine have been effective at fighting grand corruption. In particular, they have analysed the EU's contributions to judicial and anticorruption reforms during the 2016-2019 implementation period, and checked whether they delivered the expected results.

​​On the basis of their conclusions, EU auditors will address specific recommendations to the European Commission, the European External Action Service and the European Advisory Mission Ukraine.

FOR PRESS

ECA press office will hold a virtual briefing on Thursday 23 September. Journalists who wish to participate should contact [email protected] for details.

The report and press release will be published on the ECA website eca.europa.eu at 5:00 p.m. CET on Thursday 23 September.

The ECA member responsible for this report is Juhan Parts.

The ECA's special reports set out the results of its audits of EU policies and programmes or management topics related to specific budgetary areas. The ECA selects and designs these audit tasks to be of maximum impact by considering the risks to performance or compliance, the level of income or spending involved, forthcoming developments and political and public interest.