10 November 2015, 11:30
The round table with participation of MPs, representatives of the Antimonopoly Committee, Ukrainian and foreign experts was held on November 9. The main topic of the discussion was bringing the system of state aid granting to enterprises in line with the requirements of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. Namely, ensuring of transparency of public spending, compiling of the list of state aid schemes and its availability to the public, elaboration of regulations, which establish the criteria for defining of state aid. Expected result of creation of the system of monitoring and control over the state aid granting is deoligarchization of economy and larger engagement of small and medium enterprises in reception of state aid and contracts for state orders.
"The task of the Ukrainian Government is as soon as possible to tackle the chaos in the system of state aid granting to enterprises when it is granted without transparency and on unclear principles. Because of this chaos state aid was not directed to support the development of promising enterprises, start-ups, etc., it was compensatory aid, and we have to switch to the European model of development," said Viktor Halasiuk, the chairman of the round table, the head of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian part of the Parliamentary Committee of the Association.
V. Halasiuk also said that on Thursday, November 12, the Verkhovna Rada was expected to consider the draft law on the establishment of export and credit agency, which would on transparent and competitive conditions provide different companies, including private, small and medium enterprises with financial and technical aid for introduction of Ukrainian products into the foreign markets.
Ostap Semerak, the chairman of the Ukrainian part of the Parliamentary Committee of the Association, said: "We have to lay the foundation of such a system of state aid, which exists in the EU, to take as a standard the integral model and start applying it, and not to make sporadic amendments to the legislation. And this model is described in the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU."
State commissioner of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine Hanna Artemenko informed on the tasks of the Committee in reforming the system of state aid: "We need to carry out a complete inventory of the entire system of state aid granting: who and how many had received, to create a registry of all structures granting state aid, to develop and implement a competitive procedure of state aid granting, to define ways of and criteria for state aid granting, and to clarify these standards to all concerned parties in the civil service and business."
Member of the Committee on Economic Policy Viktoria Ptashnyk said that the successful reforming of the state aid system will lead to deoligarchization of Ukrainian economy: "The influence of oligarchs on Ukraine's economy is still huge, but the introduction of a state aid institute in compliance with the European standards will help to overcome disruptive influence of oligarchs - their enterprises would not have the ability as before to non-transparently obtain draft lawions under the guise of state aid, and there are no reports on them and no economic effect. The leading role in this reform plays the Antimonopoly Committee. It has to fundamentally reform its subdivisions, to engage highly qualified specialists and ensure full transparency of budget spending in the form of state aid."
Team Leader of the EU-Funded Project "Harmonization of Public Procurement System in Ukraine with EU Standards” Eugene Stuart noted that the main purpose of applying the EU regulatory system in the area of ??state aid in Ukraine is the support of the business sector by the State exclusively, and this will not have excessive negative impact on the market competition and trade. "While the Law on state aid granting to enterprises enters into force in August 2017, all ministries and NGOs that provide business with any support, have to prepare for the new rules. Ukraine continues to offer new initiatives that may not be allowed after this law’s entry into force, and it is necessary to take this into account not later than now." Eugene Stuart also reminded of a number of parliamentary legislative initiatives planned for 2015-2016, and stressed that at least twenty of them could become a problem in the future and do not comply with the EU norms on state aid.
The round table was organized with the support of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship and the Ukrainian part of the Parliamentary Committee of the Association. A series of round-table discussions under the project "Rada for Europe" is implemented by the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives and funded by the European Union.
For reference: The project "Rada for Europe" is aimed at increasing knowledge of the EU, particularly of the Association Agreement implementation and the EU-Ukraine cooperation, among members of parliament and local politicians through six thematic round-table discussions.