Public Administration Reform (PAR) is a foundational reform in Ukraine aimed at building a digital, service-oriented state that operates in the interests of its citizens based on European principles of public governance.
PAR is a key to enhancing public administration’s capacity to achieve victory, rebuild Ukraine, and integrate into the EU.
The success of many essential changes needed to address citizens’ issues and foster Ukraine’s development depends on the public administration’s capacity to make effective decisions, attract top professionals to the civil service, and provide high-quality services.
The reform of the public administration system is based on the Public Administration Reform Strategy for 2022-2025, taking into account European standards of good governance developed by the Support for Improvement in Governance and Management (SIGMA) Programme and outlined in the “Principles of Public Administration.” The “Principles of Public Administration” by the SIGMA program serve as a system of principles and evaluation criteria for public administration, based on international standards and requirements as well as best practices from EU member states and OECD countries.
Expected results of the public administration reform by 2025 include:
- Ensuring the provision of high-quality services and establishing convenient administrative procedures for citizens and businesses.
- Developing a professional and politically neutral civil service focused on protecting citizens’ interests.
- Building effective and accountable public institutions that develop and implement public policies for the sustainable development of the state.
Ukraine’s public administration reform began in 2016 with the adoption of a new Law on Civil Service and the first Public Administration Reform Strategy, covering 2016-2021. The current reform is implemented following the Public Administration Reform Strategy for 2025, adopted in 2021 and updated in 2022 after Ukraine gained EU candidate status and in response to the challenges posed by the full-scale invasion by Russia.
PAR is an integral part of the Government’s priority action matrix and is included in most of Ukraine’s international commitments.
Public Administration Reform and Ukraine’s International Commitments
EU Accession Negotiations: The “Public Administration Reform” negotiation chapter is part of the first cluster, “Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process,” within the EU membership negotiations. This cluster has special status as it opens first in the negotiation process and enables the opening of other clusters. Two roadmaps are prerequisites for opening the first cluster: the Rule of Law Roadmap and the Public Administration Reform Roadmap.
Ukraine Facility: Effective public administration is key to implementing Ukraine’s Plan within the EU’s Ukraine Facility support instrument (50 billion euros for 2024-2027). Ukraine requires institutional capacity to implement planned reforms and attract investment.
EU Enlargement: The EU Enlargement Reports for Ukraine in 2023 and 2024 include recommendations on priority public administration reforms. The EU Enlargement Package is a strategic document on EU enlargement policy, published annually, including the European Commission’s progress report on candidate and potential candidate countries.
Macro-financial Assistance: The International Monetary Fund has approved a four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine amounting to 11.6 billion SDR (equivalent to $15.6 billion USD). To receive these funds, Ukraine commits to structural benchmarks, including strengthening public institutions.