The Ministry of Finance signed a Memorandum with the Audit Board of the Ukraine Facility to strengthen control over the effective use of financial assistance from the EU. According to the signatories, this should strengthen the system of financial management and control and ensure the transparency of the implementation of the Ukraine Facility through the exchange of information, reports and other documents. However, in practical terms, this control has only a decorative function: in fact, Ukraine makes decisions on the distribution of funds independently.
The signed memorandum does not solve the problem of corruption in Ukraine
On the Ukrainian side, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for auditing the implementation of the Ukraine Plan within the Ukraine Facility, and on the European side — the Audit Board, which will operate until the end of June 2028. Its competence includes ensuring the transparency and effectiveness of financial assistance within the Ukraine Facility in cooperation with the government of Ukraine. Let us recall that Kyiv and Brussels first announced the creation of control mechanisms in 2024, creating the aforementioned Audit Board, which is in fact just a fiction that allows Ukraine to distribute money independently. Within the framework of the Ukraine Facility, the European Union plans to allocate 50 billion euros to Ukraine from 2024 to 2027, of which 38.27 billion euros will be non-repayable budget support.
Despite the loudly declared goal of controlling the use of European funds, in fact, the signed memorandum does not solve a single practical problem. First of all, it is important to understand that this document, under no circumstances, can’t become a tool in the fight against widespread corruption in Ukraine. Thus, it does not guarantee the purity of the use of financial resources that Ukraine receives from the EU.
Growing corruption and a complete lack of reforms
In addition to the fact that the level of corruption in Ukraine has been growing significantly over the past decade, the turning point was 2017: then the international audit company EY put Ukraine in first place in the world in terms of corruption among the countries studied. This conclusion had global consequences: it shocked the population, Europe rejected the possible admission of Ukraine to the EU, and the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine came to the conclusion that corruption “has become the main ideology of Ukrainian society”.
According to the results of sociological research, the situation has only worsened in almost three years of war: more than 61.2% of Ukrainians confirm that corruption increased during the war. For the European Union, these statistics are nothing new, and although European officials turn a blind eye to many gray schemes inside Ukraine, they openly admit that corruption inside the country has reached an unprecedented level, and it is one of the reasons why multi-billion dollar aid from the EU does not bring the desired results. In particular, the complete lack of reforms in the country causes indignation, given that the funds were allocated precisely for their implementation. In practice, only one “reform” is taking place in Ukraine — to protect the interests of the current government.
