"The European Commission has prepared a draft negotiation framework that defines the principles and procedures for negotiating accession to the EU and confirms the EU's position on the negotiations. This framework has specifics for each candidate country. Ukraine needs to understand them. Therefore, the seminar aims to share experiences on the conceptual aspects of decision-making processes and the dynamics of negotiations between EU member states." This was stated by Nataliia Aliushyna, the Head of the NAUCS, at the opening of the International Seminar organised by the Agency in cooperation with the High School of Public Governance, the Centre for Adaptation of the Civil Service to the EU Standards, UN Women Ukraine and Hanns Seidel Stiftung Ukraine.

According to the Head of the NAUCS, Ukraine needs to understand the experience of negotiating accession processes of EU member states and candidate countries. Each practical case provides an idea of what the EU requires from candidates and what complications can be expected. 

Olga Stefanishyna, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, expressed her gratitude to civil servants for their significant contribution to Ukraine's European integration progress. 

"After the start of the full-scale war, you have repeatedly confirmed the colossal capacity of Ukraine as a European state, particularly the Ukrainian civil service, and openness to interaction with civil society. The whole of Europe was mobilised to ensure that Ukraine received candidate status. We filled in Ukraine's "book of statehood" - a questionnaire submitted to the European Commission as soon as possible. All this would not have been possible without the constant interaction of more than 80 government agencies, political mobilisation of the entire country, and inclusive dialogue with citizens," said Olga Stefanishyna.

She reminded that Ukraine had prepared in advance for the EU accession negotiations, mainly by self-screening Ukrainian legislation's compliance with EU law.

"This approach - preliminary planning and modelling - will continue to be applied. In two months, we will enter the active phase of negotiations, and by the end of June, we want to present our negotiating position. Our common position with the EU is that the European Union needs Ukraine, and the EU needs Ukraine. Today, our identity is not in question. The EU countries have already considered Ukraine to be a future member. Today, there is a strong awareness that our country's accession to the EU is only a matter of time. The question of how long it will take us depends on us," the Vice Prime Minister said.  

"The key aspect on the way to the EU is the continuation of reforms, particularly in the civil service. The priority is to comply with agreements with European partners. In particular, open competitions for civil service positions were suspended during the martial law period. We are aware that the abandonment of competitive procedures is only a temporary measure. That's why we have included in the legislation a provision for their resumption after the end of martial law," said Nataliia Aliushyna, moderating the discussion panel "Current state of organisation of the negotiation process on Ukraine's accession to the EU".

She noted the importance of resuming competitions in the territories where there are no military operations.

"The National Agency has prepared an algorithm for the resumption of competitions with 14 steps. These include preparing and maintaining regulations that comply with the principles of public administration and OECD/SIGMA recommendations, the entry into force of new legislation, and updating the functionality of the Unified Civil Service Vacancies Portal. Ukraine will gradually improve its competition procedures, considering the experience and following the OECD SIGMA recommendations. The full restoration of competitive procedures should take place in the 3rd quarter of 2026," said the Head of the NAUCS.

Nataliia Aliushyna noted that the Ukraine Facility indicator identified the priority area of reforming the civil servants' remuneration system based on position classification. 

"The Reforms and Investment Table defines the result of this reform as the entry into force of legislation that complies with the principles of public administration set out in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, SIGMA) programme," the Head of the NAUCS said.

According to her, since the end of October, the global classification of positions in government agencies has been in progress, and the NAUCS has been providing its coordination, verification, approval and methodological support.

"This reform is recognised as one of the most difficult in public administration. The NAUCS cooperates with international partners who help us study different countries' practices and experiences. We are working on the comprehensive implementation of the reform starting in 2025. In the first quarter of 2025, Ukraine will have to report on the adoption of legislation and its practical implementation. That is why Draft Law No. 8222 should be adopted first as a key basic policy document. Immediately afterwards, the bylaws will be updated," Nataliia Aliushyna noted.

The Head of the Agency named professional support for the training needs of civil servants as another critical area. According to her, the trends in professional training are to reduce the efforts of civil servants in search of relevant programmes, a practice-oriented approach and self-education. 

"It is a popular practice to organise training for civil servants with the participation of European educational service providers. Based on cooperation, we are implementing several programmes to improve European integration and foreign language skills. Our partners are the Natolin4Capacity Building project, the European College of Natolin, the educational organisation EF Language Learning Solutions, etc." Nataliia Aliushyna said.

According to her, strengthening the human resources of public authorities and local self-government bodies is also a priority for implementing state policy in European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

"Since 2020, the National Agency has agreed on more than 60 general short-term training programmes on European integration. In 2023, 10,212 civil servants were trained in this area. In 2024, the NAUCS developed and approved five relevant in-service training programmes for 2,379 people. In 2024-2025, almost 6,500 civil servants plan to improve their skills in this area," Nataliia Aliushyna said.

The Head of the Agency noted the role of the High School of Public Governance in training in European integration. The High School has developed and approved 17 general short-term training programmes with further training.

"A total of 1,450 civil servants have been trained in European integration. Under the special short-term programme "Use of training technologies in the organisation of training on European integration and approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law", 40 trainers were trained, whose responsibilities include European integration and approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law. 2024 the High School will train 2,312 civil servants in European integration. This year, 18 professional development programmes will be implemented in this area," Nataliia Aliushyna said.

She noted that learning foreign languages is a professional necessity for civil servants in the context of EU integration. In particular, as part of the NAUCS project with EF Language Learning Solutions, 20,830 civil servants from 1,057 state authorities and local self-government bodies are learning English. A total of 15,285 certificates of advanced English language training have been issued.

Representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Deputy Ministers for European Integration, State Secretaries of Ministries, representatives of central executive bodies, other state authorities, and foreign speakers attended the seminar. Among the foreign speakers were representatives of Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Croatia.