On Thursday, June 8, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev took part in the workshop Ukraine’s path to EU membership: the role of civil society organizations, which was organized by the Program for promoting social activity Engage!
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has stepped up efforts to acquire membership in the European Union: applied for membership, received candidate status, and is working to open negotiations on accession to the EU.
After the opening of such negotiations, the field for involving civil society organizations in the processes of European integration will expand significantly: Ukrainian officials will need independent expertise and supervision from CSOs to unify Ukrainian legislation with EU law in 35 different areas. Whether Ukrainian civil society seizes the chance to play an important role in the process of European integration will depend on how CSOs are aware of the requirements for Ukraine’s EU membership and are ready to use the opportunities that will open up to involve them in these processes in the near future.
Representatives of the New Europe Center and the Center for Economic Recovery shared the best practices and tools for advocating decisions in the field of European integration in the pre-war period and during a full-scale war, and also spoke about the stages of acquiring EU membership and what to expect for Ukraine after the candidacy.
As a result of the event, the participants found out what opportunities for involving CSOs in European integration processes open up after the opening of membership negotiations between Ukraine and the EU, in particular in the context of monitoring the implementation of the acquis communautaire.
For his part, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center paid attention to the issues of reintegration of the de-occupied territories in the context of the European integration of Ukraine. The Crimean Tatar Resource Center is currently working in this direction.