Council of Europe expects perfect job from new antic-corruption prosecutor
Special Advisor to the Council of Europe Secretary General for Ukraine Christos Giakoumopoulos said that adoption of the anti-corruption strategy and appointment of anti-corruption prosecutor may ensure an efficient combating corruption in Ukraine.
"I believe very important steps were made and an anti-corruption strategy was approved, new structures were set up – an anticorruption prosecutor was appointed in Ukraine. Now we have a mechanism, and we need to see how it will work, Giakoumopoulos told in an interview with the Ukrainian journalists in Kyiv.
"In my view, now you have an adequate legal and institutional framework that can ensure Ukraine the effective combating corruption," he added.
In addition, he considers judicial system to be the most important one.
"Judicial reform is a key one. I believe that without a well-functioning judicial power, we won't be able to complete any reform," Giakoumopoulos said.
When asked about the state of cooperation of the Council of Europe with Ukraine, Giakoumopoulos said it is good.
"Speaking about our assessment of cooperation with Ukraine, I would say that first of all, all the projects have been agreed with Ukraine, we do not impose them, and thus the cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities is serious. The level of cooperation is good for all projects," he said.
The advisor also said that sometimes some of the reforms "are not as prompt as we would like them to be, but most importantly, there is a clear commitment of Ukraine to continue these reforms," and the change of government after the Revolution of Dignity gives Ukraine a new chance to reform the country.
Besides, when he talked about a financing of the projects in Ukraine by the Council of Europe, he said the work with the donors is running and it could be assessed as a successful one.
"We have an action plan in 2015-2017 towards Ukraine, which now has been financed by two thirds. It foresees financing worth EUR 45 million, of which EUR 24 million has already been raised," he said adding that the Council of Europe tries to provide a maximal budget for Ukraine.
