Johannes Hahn visits Ukraine: focus on anti-corruption, decentralisation reforms and EU's assistance to the East

Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations will visit Ukraine from 1 to 2 June. The objective of the visit is to discuss EU-Ukraine relations with a special focus on the reform agenda and to pay a visit to Mariupol and Dnipro in order to get a first-hand picture of the situation and pay attention to the reinforced EU's assistance to the East.

Ahead of the mission, Commissioner Hahn said: "My programme carries a number of important messages: That reforms pay off, as one can see with visa-liberalisation and the Association Agreement. That reforms have to continue, notably in the fight against corruption, but also important socio-economic reforms such as health, pensions, land reform, and the creation of a better business environment. And last but not least my trip to the East will once again underline that the EU stands by Ukraine as a whole". On Thursday, 1 June, Commissioner Hahn and Deputy Prime Minister Klympush Tsinsadze will inaugurate the EU's Anti-corruption programme and will meet the leadership of Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions and non-governmental organisations active in this field. The Commissioner will meet the political representatives of the country including President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman as well as representatives of civil society organisations. On Friday, 2 June, Commissioner Hahn will take part in the Forum on the Donbass recovery and development in Mariupol and will visit an EU-financed reconstructed medical clinic and a social dormitory for internally displaced people in Mariupol together with Ms Gerashchenko, First Deputy Speaker of Verkhovna Rada, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Klimkin, Governor Zhebrivskiy and Mayor of Mariupol city Boychenko. Then, Commissioner Hahn and Deputy Prime Minister Zubko will travel to Dnipro to inaugurate an office of the Regional Centre of the Local Government Development Centre, established in the framework of the decentralisation programme "U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme". Videos and photos of the visit will be available on EbS.