The FINANCIAL — The new EU Head of Delegation in Ukraine, Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli, met Ukrainian journalist on his first press conference on 11 October in Kyiv.
He reported on the overall impression from his first six weeks and highlighted the spheres in which the EU will support Ukraine in coming years. He praised Ukraine for “moving towards an open and democratic form of society” and civil society activities which mean “autocracy has no chances to come back”.
Ambassador Mingarelli stressed the freedom of media in his speech: “We need free and independent media. It is clear that businessmen try to control the media, but we have to make sure that media reflect the debates which exist in the society and most political parties can find a way to express their views through main media. In this regard you can always rely on the EU delegation. We will be extremely attentive to the media situation and we will mobilise all the means to help you”.
He also mentioned important reforms already conducted in the judicial sector and anticorruption field — a National Anti-Corruption Bureau, National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office have all been established, according to EU Neighbours East Info.
However, he added, that “new institutions and laws are not enough in the fight against corruption. There is a third very important factor: mentality. Its change takes more time, it is not a question of months, or even years — it is a question of decades. Anticorruption is an endless fight, and it is extremely hard to get significant results. Still, your government has been doing a lot, and you can be sure that we will do our best to share our experience in this area with them.”
Ambassador Mingarelli also urged journalists to share best EU practice on decentralisation, deregulation, energy, and improving of the social dimension of the transition process.
“Today a large majority of Ukrainians lives in a very difficult situation. We have to do everything to ensure that the most vulnerable segment of the population are those who benefit from the economic growth. You can rely on us sharing our experience in building a social market economy, where inequality is not very clear, and the most vulnerable get the support from government and public institutions and foreign donors,” concluded the EU Ambassador in his speech.
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