President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed during a conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that a draft law guaranteeing the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions must be adopted as early as next week.

Source: Zelenskyy on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy said the conversation focused on Ukraine’s European integration, further strengthening sanctions against Russia, and the work of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure.

"We talked about the bill that guarantees the independence and effectiveness of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies. I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise. We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week," the president wrote.

He also assured von der Leyen that Ukraine remains committed to implementing the necessary reforms to qualify for financial assistance under the Ukraine Facility mechanism.

"Today, I signed laws on the reform of the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) and on factoring. Ursula acknowledged the progress in fulfilling the relevant indicators.

We also discussed the steps needed to open the first negotiation cluster on our EU membership. We will work on this as quickly as possible," Zelenskyy said.

Background:

• On 25 July, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, announced that the presidential bill aimed at restoring the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) is scheduled to be reviewed on 31 July.
• Amid growing concerns following the adoption of a law that subordinates NABU and SAPO to the Prosecutor General, President Zelenskyy reiterated that he does not want to jeopardise Ukraine’s European integration.

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