On July 17, a panel discussion was arranged with the participation of a group of Balkan experts on the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is impossible to overestimate the opportunity for Ukraine to study the experience of the Western Balkan countries now, as these countries have been integrating into the European Union using a revised methodology that includes a cluster approach. Therefore, we are extremely grateful to all our partners who fully support Ukraine on its way to the EU<\/em>,\u201d said Viktoriia Melnyk, Head of International Relations and European Integration at the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform<\/strong>, during the discussion panel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A two-day training program intended to strengthen the skills of Ukrainian civil servants involved in the negotiation process of Ukraine\u2019s accession to the EU. Thus, the participants formed 4 working groups that collaborated on key framework aspects of the Roadmap. Experts of the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, Viktoriia Melnyk and Roman Smaliuk, together with their Dutch colleagues, moderated the group discussions<\/strong>. The group work was aimed at developing a strategic vision of the reform outcome with the specification of the flagship initiatives, goals and deadlines. In order to develop a general navigation framework, the training participants also dealt with important practical issues, such as how to ensure effective internal coordination between stakeholders, ministries, and the negotiation team, or what is needed to implement the reform (e.g., changes in legislation, adoption of a new law, introduction of a new implementation plan\/agenda).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a recap, following the introduction of the revised methodology for accession negotiations in February 2020, the negotiating chapters are now divided into six thematic blocks, the so-called clusters. The \u201cFundamentals\u201d cluster starts the negotiation process, which, among other aspects, includes \u201cRule of Law and Fundamental Rights and Freedoms\u201d and \u201cJustice, Freedom, Security\u201d and corresponds to Chapters 23 and 24. Negotiating progress within this cluster will determine the overall pace of the negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The event is organized by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The program is organized in cooperation with the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Viktoriia Melnyk and Roman Smaliuk joined two-day EU accession training \u2013 Rule of Law focus, for civil servants of Ukraine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":12383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186,187,326,333],"tags":[],"authors":[],"source":[],"class_list":["post-12390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-cplr-news","category-european-integration","category-integration-processes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pravo.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/21.07.24-2.jpg\")
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