On October 9, the next round of bilateral meetings between Ukraine and the EU took place in Brussels (Belgium) to assess the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law. This is an official screening, a necessary element in the negotiation process for Ukraine's accession to the EU. This time, the screening session was dedicated to the Public Administration Reform.

As a member of the Ukrainian delegation headed by Olga Stefanishyna, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and Minister of Justice of Ukraine, the NAUCS was represented by Nataliia Aliushyna, Head of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service.

During the screening session, the Head of the NAUCS presented the current results of the civil service reform in Ukraine to the European Commission and outlined the next steps and tasks.

The focus was on the civil service's capacity to respond to the challenges of war, ensuring institutional sustainability, reforming the remuneration system, restoring competition and improving approaches to recruiting staff, optimising and digitalizing human resource management processes, professional development and retention.

“The civil service of Ukraine is about people and for people. We felt it especially acutely in the first days of the war. We faced unprecedented challenges, and every Ukrainian civil servant felt the depth of the oath to the people of Ukraine,” Nataliia Aliushyna said at the beginning of the report.

The Head of the NAUCS explained the context and conditions in which civil servants are currently working and how this affects the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of civil service.

Nataliia Aliushyna also spoke about the NAUCS' work to increase the capacity of local governments, improve HR tools in local governments, and bring civil service and local government service closer together.

In addition, during the discussion, the Head of the NAUCS provided comprehensive answers to the EU Party's clarifying questions and outlined the next steps in the implementation of the civil service reform in Ukraine.

“Even under martial law, Ukraine's civil service has proven its resilience. Civil servants have demonstrated the ability to quickly adapt and work in conditions of uncertainty. We realize the scale of the challenges we face. This includes staff turnover, increased competition for personnel in the labour market with the private sector, creating appropriate workplace conditions for people with disabilities, and adaptation of veterans... We have a demand from society for integrity and high professionalism. Our response is to reform the remuneration system, build the state's brand as an employer, rethink the recruitment and selection of personnel, and develop civil servants. We are implementing the civil service development strategy for the short and long term. And even in an unpredictable situation during the war, we follow our roadmap, have a clear goal and defined objectives in our work on the way to the EU,” Nataliia Aliushyna said.

More information:

During bilateral meetings as part of the official screening process, the European Commission and the candidate country carefully compare the candidate country's legislation, strategic framework, institutional structures and administrative capacities with EU standards. This is the basis for developing recommendations to the European Commission in each area of the negotiation process. Based on the results of the screening, the European Commission prepares a report on the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU law for each negotiation cluster. This document will finally determine the level of compliance and the further scope of work.