European Projects Management Ltd. has been awarded the GIZ funded project contract in Ukraine, in consortium with ICON-INSTITUT.

Project Title:

Set-up and management of an Expert Platform for Ukraine’s EU alignment in the Rule of Law, with focus on chapters 23 and 24 of the acquis communautaire

Location:

Ukraine

Value of the Contract:

650 000 EUR

Contract Description:

Through this assignment the contractor shall provide the core elements of the “Expert Platform for the support of EU alignment in the rule of law” (EP) among some other tasks.

The EP shall be a flexible and adaptable structure bringing together EU and Ukrainian renowned legal experts and researchers, mobilising their knowledge for an effective and appropriate alignment of the Ukrainian legal framework to the EU requirements falling into the scope of Chapters 23 and 24.

The main beneficiaries of the Expert Platform are the Ministry of Justice as the lead entity on the negotiations for Chapters 23 and 24 (in particular the Deputy Minister for European Integration) as well as DPMO/GOCEEI as the lead coordinators of the entire negotiation project and the main implementation partners of the GIZ project as a whole. In addition, the EP will also benefit the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and other important entities such as the Office of the President of Ukraine.

The EP’s core functions are:

Capacity Building and Support: The experts of the platform will provide trainings and workshops to improve the skills of Ukrainian officials, facilitating effective reform implemen-tation. Experts of the platform will be providing ad-hoc consultations on immediate queries to targeted interventions. Attention will be paid to the high relevance of this capacity build-ing support and formats will be developed to provide the support “on the job”, i.e., schooling activities which are immediately relevant for the work of key stakeholders.

Facilitation of Knowledge Exchange and Strategic Advice: The platform connects Ukrainian legislators with essential information on the EU acquis and local legal systems, enhancing their ability to identify and bridge legislative gaps based on the best EU practices, contributing to action plans and state strategies assuring comprehensive advice on overarching reform agenda, support in development of Road Maps, self-screening process.

Legal Advice: It offers guidance for navigating complex legal reforms, ensuring Ukrainian laws align with EU standards providing in-house capacity for specialised legal advice in a swift and flexible way. The platform will also engage in its own analysis of laws, draft laws, opinions, recommendations and other binding and non-binding documents, and may provide drafting proposals for integration into national laws

At the core, it shall resemble a managed network of internationally and nationally renowned experts (legal experts from the EU and governmental institutions, legal scholars and/or judicial practitioners such as judges, attorneys etc.) and expert institutions able to provide solution-oriented on-the-job support, coaching and mentoring for high-level staff and specialists from Ukrainian partners respectively.