Window of Opportunity for Reforms

As the economic crisis strikes hard and Ukraine’s prospects look gloomy, an independent International Expert Commission finds that new windows of opportunity have emerged with the new Presidency.  The new presidential mandate, the shock of a recent severe economic crisis, and popular dissatisfaction with the status-quo create ideal conditions for successful reform.

The chairman of the CASE Advisory Council, Anders Aslund, co-chaired this Expert Commission together with Oleksandr Paskhaver. Among others, CASE President, Marek Dąbrowski, and CASE Advisory Council Member, Charles Wyplosz joined the Commission  to get Ukraine’s reform priorities straight in a 10-point plan, complete with suggestions for fields ranging from reforms in the gas sector, to privatization, and to modernization of commercial legislation. The authors call for the installation of an institutionally independent reform commission, and suggest that Ukraine must use its ‘international leverage and external guidance’ to surpass domestic reform obstacles. The EU, IMF and the World Bank can be valuable partners in jumpstarting major reforms.

The Proposals for Ukraine 2010 – Time for Reforms report has been published by the International Centre for Policy Studies and is available online.  It contains elaborate reform proposals for the State, its micro -and macro-economic policy, the energy and social sectors, as well as strategies for accelerated European Integration.