Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

During the final press conference on the results of the field meeting of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the EU in Chernivtsi, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that the change in the status of Ukraine on the way to the European Union affects the work of executive authorities and the tasks the Verkhovna Rada regarding legal approximation. “We saw a shift in the work of the Ukrainian-Romanian border in the Chernivtsi region and at the same time we saw challenges,” said the Chair of the Committee. She added that the main conclusions of the Committee will concern the monitoring of the further implementation of the pilot projects at the border. They include an electronic queue, the introduction of the status of an authorised economic operator, the implementation of the next level of the NCTS system by the State Customs Service of Ukraine and interaction with businesses. Thus, the border must be not only protected and safe, but also more transparent, free from corruption risks and easier to cross by citizens of Ukraine and other countries.

Further recommendations of the Committee, based on the results of the working visit to the Ukrainian-Romanian border, according to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, will concern the updating of the Integrated Border Management Strategy given the additional challenges, new opportunities and the perspective of the EU membership. According to her, Ukraine currently uses only part of the indicators of integrated border management that are common to the countries of the European Union. “We need to focus on including documents we already have in our big EU membership negotiation plan. When the decision to start negotiations is made, the first cluster of interaction and obligations will be the so-called “Basics” cluster. This, in addition to rights, freedoms, the balance of power, and the rule of law, will also include a large amount of work within the framework of the “Justice, freedom and security” section involving institutions that participated in the meeting and work on the implementation of the Integrated Management Strategy borders,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. She noted that there are many challenges. In particular, the technical support of the State Customs Service and the Border Service for control of the import and export of goods urgently needs strengthening. “If there is no technical support for quality work, no electronic queues, and no improvements will help us retain the trust of our European partners. We are aware of the serious problems that we have faced on the Ukrainian-Polish border and it is important for us that our Romanian colleagues have no reason to claim that the quality of our inspection does not meet their needs and their expectations. This is critically important for Ukraine, given the fact that today land transportation makes up the lion's share of our transportation from the EU,” concluded Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.