Today, NAPC members gathered for their first official meeting and discussed the institutional launch roadmap that was previously developed by UNDP and then vouched by the Inter-agency Working Group on NAPC Launch.

 

The yesterday’s decision of the NAPC Selection Panel and the Cabinet of Ministers' Decree unblocked NAPC operations and made sure that today 4 out of 5 Agency's members come together to discuss urgent pending issues. With two new members on board, NAPC may start its registration procedure as a legal entity, select its Head, initiate the recruitment process for NAPC Secretariat, and expedite the procedures needed for launch of the long-awaited electronic asset declaration reform (including approval of necessary regulations and announcement of the e-system operational for its official kick-off).

 

Indeed, the process of the NAPC member selection has not been an easy one and was marked with multiple instances of compromise-search, blockages, and subsequent renewals. While the first attempt was made to launch NAPC back in December 2015, that selection round yielded only 3 NAPC members announced as winners of the contest. Nataliya Korchak, lecturer at Prosecutor’s Academy, Oleksandr Skopych, State Agency for Civil Service Deputy Head, and MP Viktor Chumak were inaugurated by the Cabinet of Ministers as NAPC members. At the same time, questions remained pending whether this number of members would be enough to actually get the Head elected (as one of the members would then have to vote for him- or herself and, therefore, enter into a situation of conflict of interest). In this situation, one of the appointed members, Mr. Chumak, stepped down and the Agency was left pending again.

 

As additional selection process for 2 NAPC members commenced in the second half of December and went on until March 2016. The process, toilsome and multilayered in itself, was further made more complicated by Selection Panel discussions and committee deliberations. Multiple negotiations between Panel members have led to stalemates, and various attempts were made to de-block the decision-making. Such attempts have even included meetings with the President of Ukraine.

 

The finish-line discussions took place in the afternoon of 16 March 2016, whereas a final round of Selection Panel votes allocated 7 voices (out of 8 possible ones) to two candidates: Mr. Ruslan Radetskyy and Mr. Ruslan Ryaboshapka. The Selection Panel vote was the final step that led to accomplishment of the last in 138 requirements to Ukraine for free-visa regime with the EU.

 

At the same time, even with the majority Agency members in place, an immense load of work lies ahead. One of the most urgent issues to be addressed is the electronic asset declaration system that is to be set up soonest, at least for the highest echelon of government officials already in 2016.

 

As the startup operations are taking place, a competition to fill in the last, fifth, vacancy with NAPC is open with the deadline for application submission being set for 21 March 2016.

 

NAPC is supported by the Enhanced Public Sector Transparency and Integrity Project, implemented by UNDP with financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

 

Nataliya Korchak is the senior lecturer of the Administrative Law Disciplines Department of the National Academy of Prosecutors of Ukraine.

Ruslan Radetskyy is the Automaidan lawyer, former prosecutor of Desnyansky raion of Kyiv City.

Ruslan Ryaboshapka is the Reanimation Package of Reforms anti-corruption expert and one of the authors of the anti-corruption legal package, former Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Skopych is the former Deputy Head of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service of Ukraine.