By KYIV. Dec 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – In order to interact with the EU countries, Ukrainian business needs to work according to legislation adapted to European standards, so the country must have a specialized state body that will synchronize legislative norms and by-laws with those in force in the EU.
This opinion was expressed by Alex Lissitsa, General Director of the IMC agricultural holding, at the conference Doing Agribusiness in Ukraine, organized by the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), regarding plans for a possible enlargement of ministries in Ukraine.
"We became a candidate for EU membership, that is, in fact, we wrote in the constitution and formally approved that we are going to Europe. If we go there, we need to adapt our legislation and by-laws. Some 40% of the acts required by a candidate for EU membership, which need to be adapted to European legislation, are somehow related to agriculture, for example, phytosanitary standards. We are, in fact, completely tied to them if we want to go to Europe," Lissitsa said at the conference.
He also noted that Ukraine has been synchronizing its legislation with the European one for more than a year – this has been happening since 2014, when the Agrarian Policy Ministry took up the implementation of European integration work in the country, with a performance of 68-98% of the planned indicators, depending on a sector of the agro-industrial complex.
"Then [in 2019] we destroyed the Agrarian Policy Ministry and reached 35-42% of the fulfillment of obligations. The same applies to phytosanitary standards and other things – until 2019 we fulfilled almost 100%, and then – 49-56%. This is the answer to whether we need the Ministry of Agrarian Policy or not. If we decide to go to Europe and guarantee our legislation, such a question should not even arise. On the contrary, we will need to fill the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with new personnel and powers," the IMC general director said.
As reported, the concept of enlargement of ministries in Ukraine from 20 to 14 was discussed at a meeting held on November 8 by President Volodymyr Zelensky with members of the government. According to it, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine can be merged with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry for Strategic Industries into a single Ministry of Economic Development.
