EU4PFM Team meets with Ministry of Finance to discuss PFM reforms and screening assistance
The EU4PFM Team embarked on a three-day mission to Kyiv to meet with Partner Institutions and discuss current progress, priority areas for further cooperation in budget, customs, tax, and IT streams, and future plans to support Ukraine’s successful accession to the EU.
Today, EU4PFM Team Leader Jurgita Domeikiene, along with international experts on customs, tax, public internal financial control, and a short-term expert on budget planning, as well as representative from the European Delegation to Ukraine held a series of meetings with First Deputy Minister Denys Uliutin, Deputy Minister for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk, Deputy Minister Svitlana Vorobei, Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization Oleksandr Hrubiian and representatives from the Ministry of Finance departments.
The discussions focused on the following:
- Progress towards EU accession negotiations: the participants discussed the ongoing work related to opening negotiations for EU accession.
- Scaling approaches for key spending units: the need to scale up approaches and techniques for key spending units was addressed.
- Developing an IT system for budget planning and monitoring of state budget execution: the parties discussed the current progress of its development and expressed belief that the system’s functionality could be tested during the preparation of the Budget Declaration for 2025–2027 and the draft budget for 2025.
- Financial control issues: the meeting addressed the need to raise awareness among institutional leaders about the importance of internal control and audit, fostering demand for these practices.
- Tax and customs legislation harmonisation: the discussions covered harmonising Ukrainian tax legislation with EU legislation and supporting the implementation of measures outlined in the National Revenue Strategy. They also addressed harmonising Ukrainian customs legislation with EU legislation and introducing customs information systems.
At the beginning of the meetings, First Deputy Minister Denys Uliutin expressed his gratitude to the EU4PFM Team for their professional support of initiated projects and continued assistance to Ukraine on its path to creating the necessary prerequisites for EU membership. He noted that the Ministry had already sent the EU4PFM Team a list of issues in budget planning related to EU accession, using Lithuania as an example, for further discussion with the Budget Policy Department.
During the meeting, Mr. Uliutin also informed the team that they are involving key spending units in testing the IT system for budget planning and monitoring state budget execution. Both parties agreed that the system’s successful implementation would be a significant achievement in public financial management technical assistance and leave a lasting impact.
EU4PFM Team Leader Jurgita Domeikiene assured the Ministry of steadfast and comprehensive support from the EU4PFM Project until achieving their common goals, ultimately leading to Ukraine’s successful EU accession.
