EU Confidence Drops as Ukraine Lags on Key Reform Commitments
Minimal progress on anti-corruption and judicial reforms raises concerns over accession readiness
A high-level meeting of the EU Council held in Lviv in December 2025 marked a critical moment in Ukraine’s integration process, establishing accession benchmarks (критерії вступу) and a roadmap to restore institutional trust (інституційна довіра) between Kyiv and European partners. The agreement, informally known as the Kachka-Kos plan, outlined ten priority reforms primarily focused on anti-corruption and rule of law.
The plan emerged after concerns among EU member states regarding Ukraine’s rollback of anti-corruption safeguards (антикорупційні гарантії) in July 2025. European officials emphasized that restoring credibility required concrete action within a defined timeframe. As one official stated, “One of the reasons why we adopted this 10-point plan is to rebuild trust with the member states… We expect that Ukraine will fulfil them [within a year].”
Three months into the implementation period, however, progress remains extremely limited. Current assessments show that Ukraine has achieved only 9 out of 100 points in fulfilling the plan, reflecting a lack of reform implementation progress (прогрес у впровадженні реформ) and raising concerns about compliance with EU expectations (відповідність вимогам ЄС). This level of performance indicates that most measures remain at early or inactive stages.
The evaluation is being conducted through a monitoring initiative known as Membership Check, which applies a methodology similar to EU assessment standards. The process prioritizes tangible outcomes over formal declarations, focusing on legislative adoption results (результати ухвалення законодавства) rather than preliminary steps such as working groups or draft discussions. Without concrete implementation, reforms receive minimal scores.
The methodology assigns limited value to initial political statements or draft proposals, reflecting the emphasis on effective policy execution (ефективне виконання політики) and measurable institutional change. Only fully implemented reforms can achieve the maximum score, reinforcing the EU’s focus on practical governance outcomes (практичні результати управління).
Among the ten reform points, only two have reached even a preliminary level of progress, corresponding to draft legislation being registered. These relate to judicial appointments and legal integrity measures. However, even in these cases, concerns remain about partial compliance with requirements (часткова відповідність вимогам) and incomplete alignment with the plan’s objectives.
Several areas demonstrate particularly weak performance. Reforms related to the prosecution system have shown almost no advancement, with one key point receiving zero progress. Another, addressing merit-based appointments within prosecutorial structures, scored only minimal points, highlighting ongoing issues in judicial accountability mechanisms (механізми судової підзвітності) and prosecutorial transparency standards (стандарти прозорості прокуратури).
Additional low-scoring areas include ensuring effective forensic access for anti-corruption bodies and strengthening internal oversight systems. These components are considered essential indicators of anti-corruption enforcement capacity (спроможність забезпечення антикорупційної політики) and broader institutional integrity, yet remain largely unaddressed.
Other reform areas have been classified as showing limited activity, with scores reflecting only general intentions or early-stage discussions. This includes proposed changes to the criminal procedure framework and institutional reforms affecting investigative bodies. In these cases, the absence of formal legislative steps underscores a lack of policy development momentum (динаміка розробки політики) and delays in translating commitments into action.
The broader implication is that the Kachka-Kos plan, while formally separate from accession negotiations, serves as a key indicator of Ukraine’s readiness for EU membership. Its implementation is closely linked to the fundamentals cluster requirements (вимоги кластеру основ) within the accession process, particularly in areas related to rule of law and governance.
Delays in fulfilling the plan are already affecting relations with European partners. EU institutions evaluate progress based on outcomes rather than internal political explanations, meaning that institutional responsibility standards (стандарти інституційної відповідальності) apply to the state as a whole, regardless of whether delays originate in parliament or government.
Concerns have also been raised about legislative inefficiency. If the national parliament is unable to adopt required laws, it undermines the broader process of alignment with EU standards, which requires the passage of numerous reforms. This raises questions about legislative capacity for integration (законодавча спроможність до інтеграції) and the feasibility of meeting accession requirements.
Experts emphasize that urgent action is required across all branches of government to restore confidence. Progress on the Kachka-Kos plan is seen as a critical test of Ukraine’s ability to deliver reforms and maintain credibility in its EU integration path. Without measurable improvements, the current trajectory risks further erosion of partner confidence (довіра партнерів) and delays in advancing toward membership.
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