Ukraine’s weak response with reference to the implementation of the association agreement between 2015 and 2019: the corruption factor

Abstract

This research is called to explain the weak reaction of the Government of Ukraine to the implementation of the Association Agreement terms during 2015-2019, namely through the prism of the high level of corruption in the country. Since the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, one of the important directions of its foreign policy has been cooperation with the European Union. A new stage in the relations between the parties was the signing in 2014 of a highly important document of the Association Agreement, establishing a new level of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. According to the document, Ukraine had committed itself to fulfill several important conditions that would contribute to further intensification of cooperation with the EU. These include the ones reforming the political, economic, social, and environmental spheres. Despite a number of actions taken, Ukraine is still slow to meet its obligations under the Agreement, especially in the spheres of education, training and youth, transportation, transport infrastructure, postal and courier services, public procurement, the environment, and civil protection. One of the reasons for this is the high level of in-country corruption.