Key Reforms Must Be 'Continued And Intensified' – German Envoy

What You Need To Know:

✓ The international community and Germany “expect key reforms to be continued and intensified in Ukraine;”

✓ “We need a professional independent reformed prosecution that is seriously working and is independent from the influence of the politicians. The prosecution is there to prosecute and attack against the law and not to defend particular interest of individual persons;”

✓ “The will and the political determination to continue and to engage in a more decisive fight against corruption must come from within Ukraine;”

✓ The key for Ukraine is to have a stable government, “then Minsk agenda.”

In Ukraine’s ongoing political crisis, Johannes Regenbrecht, Germany’s Special Envoy for Ukraine, speaks on behalf of the entire international community when he says that they “expect key reforms to be continued and intensified.”

Regenbrecht mentions two key reforms that Ukraine needs to implement - the change in the judiciary being the most important: “We need a professional independent reformed prosecution that is seriously working and is independent from the influence of the politicians. The prosecution is there to prosecute and attack against the law and not to defend particular interest of individual persons.”

The second reform, which is linked to the first is the fight against corruption. While agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the corruption prevention office have been formed, Regenbrecht feels that they are not upheld by the prosecution: “They can only work effectively if and when they are being supported by the judiciary and by prosecution.”

Corruption should be tackled from the root, and while Ukraine will always have support from the international friends and partners, “the will and the political determination to continue and to engage in a more decisive fight against corruption must come from within Ukraine,” adds Regenbrecht.

When referring to the Minsk Agreement, Regenbrecht stresses that establishing security in the occupied Ukrainian territories is necessary in order to make progress on the political track. He thinks it is up to both sides in the conflict to contribute to the security process. But the key for Ukraine is to have a stable government, “then Minsk agenda,” he adds.

Hromadske’s Tetyana Ogarkova spoke to Johannes Regenbrecht, Special Envoy for Ukraine & Head of Ukraine Taskforce in the German MFA on April 14th, 2016 in Kyiv.