The Ukrainian parliament, or Verkhovna Rada, passed a constitutional amendment on Tuesday, 2 February, establishing independence for the courts. This was a natural topic of conversation when the Nordic-Baltic parliamentary presidents met with President Petro Poroshenko on their second day in Kiev.

A number of other topics were raised as well:

“The meeting with President Poroshenko was a good one, and interesting,” says Olemic Thommessen, President of the Storting (Norwegian parliament).  “He gave detailed assessments of the security situation, the ongoing reform programmes and his thoughts on how he will strengthen contact with the EU, which is arranging its own Ukraine Week in the European Parliament in late February. Anti-corruption efforts are an important foundation there.”

Many challenges

A meeting with the new leader of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Artem Sytnyk, also had impact. The agency was set up in December 2015 and is well under way in establishing itself.

During the meeting, Mr Thommessen asked Mr Sytnyk to describe the biggest challenges the organisation faces at this time.

“People have waited so long for something to be done that there is great impatience,” Mr Sytnyk said. “So time is a challenge. After just a short time, for example, journalists are asking how many people we have sent to prison.”

Other challenges, he says, include the population’s general lack of trust. Ukrainians are also subjected to information attacks from media owners who oppose the anti-corruption efforts. Funding is another challenge, though international partners have stepped up to help – including the World Bank.

“In addition, we have challenges in accessing databases to get the information we need.”

Meeting civil society

Mr Thommessen and the other parliamentary presidents also met with representatives of a variety of collaborating civil society groups on Tuesday. These included Reanimation Package of Reforms, which is made up of activists, journalists, experts, researchers and human rights defenders working to help carry out reforms in Ukraine. Corruption and trust were important topics at this meeting, too. According to the Ukrainian representatives, only eight per cent of the population has confidence in the courts today.

Mr Thommessen asked questions regarding the steps they have taken to counteract the problem of media ownership by just a few private interests that manipulate public debate.

“Today the public conversation is limited,” says Mr Thommessen. “That’s something I wanted to challenge them on. A prerequisite for a democracy is open, public discussion.”

The day ended in a new, shared facility, the House of Free People, created for a number of NGOs that are engaged in attempts to alleviate the suffering of war-zone populations. In a variety of ways they are helping people who have fled the crisis.

See also

Photos of the parliamentary presidents’ visit to Ukraine
Must show the people results