Ukraine is confidently losing its leadership among the EU's eastern neighbors

On June 2, the annual Eastern Partnership Index will be published in Kyiv - a comparative assessment of the European Union's eastern neighbors in terms of their rapprochement with the EU. Ukraine, which last year lost its status as a regional leader in this area, has widened the gap with its neighbors. The main problems of the country were the deterioration of the level of democracy and business climate.

The European integration rating of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries - Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - was first published at the end of last year in Poznan. The results of the study turned out to be sensational - Ukraine lost its leadership not only to Moldova, but also to Georgia (see Kommersant, December 1, 2011). Last year's rating had pilot status. The organizer of the project, the international foundation "Vidrodzhennia", promised to refine the methodology and present the next VP index in 2012.

Kommersant has obtained data from a new study, which will be officially published on June 2. “Ukraine has continued to move away from its previous status as the flagship country of the European Neighborhood Policy. Moldova has maintained positive dynamics, Georgia is following behind,” the document says.

The principle of compiling the index remained the same - teams of experts in each of the six participating countries filled out a standard questionnaire, including more than 850 parameters, divided into three categories - relationship with the EU, regulatory convergence, governance in the field of European integration. After this, the final rating was calculated for each category. In 2012, Ukraine took second position in relations with the EU, third in governance, and in terms of rapprochement it was even fourth, behind Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.

The authors of the study note that the greatest role in the decline in Ukraine’s position was played by “the deterioration in the level of democracy and business climate.” “Kiev’s position in the ranking has worsened even more compared to the previous year... Ukraine has become the only country in the region where the business climate has worsened, and this happened despite the fact that it is the first EaP country to complete negotiations with the EU on an agreement on associations." The disastrous situation in the area of ease of doing business is demonstrated by the corresponding block of the questionnaire, in which Ukraine was in last place, sharing it with Belarus.

Despite the fact that the countries participating in the rating have only recently begun or are just preparing to begin negotiations with the EU on the creation of a free trade area (FTA), and only Ukraine completed them at the end of last year, in terms of adaptation to the FTA, Kyiv was not able to become a leader and shared second and third places with Chisinau, leaving Tbilisi ahead. “Ukraine has the text of the treaty ready, but there is no active work on its implementation. At the same time, Moldova and Georgia were adapting their regulatory framework to the European one even before they began negotiations with the EU,” explained the head of the study, director of the European program "Vidrodzhenya" Irina Solonenko.

Based on the results of two waves of research, Chisinau has secured its position as the new leader of the Eastern Partnership. “Moldova continues to be the most willing reformer among the EaP countries... In addition, Moldova, together with Georgia, are the favorites of the European Union,” note the authors of the report.

Olga Rudenko

European Integration Rating of Eastern Partnership Countries

Ukraine
(place in
ranking
/point )
Moldavia
Belarus
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan

Relationship with the EU	2 / 0,64	1 / 0,69	6 / 0,31	3 / 0,51	4 / 0,41	5 / 0,36
incl. political dialogue	1 / 0,94	2 / 0,77	6 / 0,28	4 / 0,56	3 / 0,63	5 / 0,55
mutual trade	1 / 0,68	2 / 0,66	6 / 0,37	4-5 / 0,49	4-5 / 0,49	3 / 0,52
interpersonal contacts	2 / 0,48	1 / 0,78	5 / 0,30	3 / 0,45	4 / 0,43	6 / 0,24
Regulatory convergence	4 / 0,56	1 / 0,65	6 / 0,31	2 / 0,60	3 / 0,59	5 / 0,44
including standard democratic	2 / 0,60	1 / 0,75	6 / 0,26	3-4 / 0,59	3-4 / 0,59	5 / 0,35
economy	4 / 0,53	3 / 0,59	6 / 0,37	1 / 0,67	2 / 0,60	5 / 0,44
Management in the field European integrations	3 / 0,45	1 / 0,53	6 / 0,22	2 / 0,51	4-5 / 0,31	4-5 / 0,31

Source: International Fund "Vidrodzhennia"

Index of Unfulfilled Hopes