Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-22

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Finland's goal is to provide long-term support for the resilience of Ukrainian society and its own reforms. The objectives of the Country Strategy are to restore Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and respect for international law, to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation between Finland and Ukraine, to improve the sustainability of society and citizens, and to strengthen relations between the European Union and Ukraine. The Council of Europe (CoE) Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022 is a continuation of the previous program implemented in 2015-17. CoE will implement the Action Plan together with the Ukrainian authorities and other actors, focusing on strengthening human rights, the rule of law and democracy in line with European standards and norms. The action plan supports Ukraine's own reforms and priorities. The main achievements of the 2015-17 action plan were the implementation of constitutional reforms in the judiciary, the establishment of a new Supreme Court, the start of the prosecution service, the improvement of the legal status of internally displaced persons and the development of the public legal aid system. The follow-up program places particular emphasis on the development of a more independent and efficient judiciary in Ukraine, the application of European human rights standards, the efficiency of public administration, access to justice and the rights of minorities and internally displaced persons. Due to its expertise, CoE has a key role to play in these reforms. The project supports Priority III of Finland's development policy, ie strengthening the democracy and capacity of societies. Strengthening the rule of law, democracy and human rights is part of Finland's Ukraine National Program 2021-2024, supports Finland's Ukraine Strategy 2021-2024 and is justified from the point of view of Finland's foreign and security policy. The Program of Action contributes to the goals of the UN Agenda 2030 4,510, 11 and 16. The cost estimate for the entire action plan 2018-2021 was EUR 29.5 million. On 1 July 2020, the Committee of Ministers decided to extend the Action Plan until the end of 2022 in order to achieve the set targets. The estimated cost of the implementation has increased to EUR 36.4 million. Finland has previously contributed EUR 1.5 million to the financing of the current action program. Finland's additional funding to CoE is EUR 2 million.