Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, States, international institutions and private organizations have mobilized tirelessly to support Ukraine militarily and financially.

According to estimates by the Kiel Institute, a German think tank, the aid announced for kyiv amounted, as of Wednesday July 6, to more than 80 billion euros, the bulk coming from Western countries, the United States in head.

Astronomical sums which should continue to flow in the coming years as the main principles for the reconstruction of the country ravaged by war were laid down at the beginning of the week at a conference in Lugano, Switzerland.

According to the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Chmyhal, Ukraine would need 750 billion dollars (730 billion euros) for this upcoming reconstruction.

But the payment of this money will not go without counterparts, warned the representatives of the allies of kyiv.

In their joint statement, future donors stressed the importance that "the rule of law [be] systematically strengthened and corruption eradicated".

For his part, Denys Chmyhal promised that corruption would be "eliminated", in particular thanks to the digitization of many procedures, evoking the construction sector or even customs control operations.

Reforms undertaken since 2014

Despite these declarations of good intentions, the risks of corruption appear particularly high in a country at war with weak public institutions and on which tens of billions of international aid are pouring.

“It is estimated that 7.5% of the aid provided to the poorest countries is diverted into tax havens, due to a lack of transparency on control,” explains Laurence Fabre, head of the private sector program at Transparency International.

"Ukraine will probably be no different from other countries that have experienced a massive influx of funds following a disaster or a war. We can think of Afghanistan, Iraq or even Haiti."

In its 2021 ranking, Transparency International ranked Ukraine 122nd in the world out of 180 in terms of perceptions of corruption, a phenomenon that by definition is hidden and difficult to quantify.

Before the conflict, the country was the third most corrupt country on the European continent, just after Russia, in the lead, and Azerbaijan.

“The country scored 32 in 2021, which is half the average for EU countries. Ukraine faces endemic corruption in the public sector. However, it is true that this figure is improving for ten years thanks to a series of reforms", specifies Laurence Fabre.

A positive dynamic is indeed underway in the wake of the Maidan revolution.

Since 2014 and the presidency of former pro-European billionaire Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine has embarked on a series of institutional reforms aimed at changing its image as a country plagued by a culture of bribes and bribes. .

The shadow of the oligarchs

At the heart of this revival, the ProZorro system, a digital platform for awarding public contracts.

Its watchword: transparency.

Once the call for tenders procedure has been completed, companies or private citizens can consult all the information concerning the contracts signed with the State via the Internet.

Civil servants are also obliged, since 2014, to declare their income and assets.

Again, this data is available online.

A year later, Ukraine also set up a National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu), the judicial arm of the state, capable of launching investigations but not having the power to indict suspects.

Elected in 2019 with a clear mandate to fight corruption, Volodymyr Zelensky has also multiplied initiatives, with mixed success, to improve transparency in public life.

In September 2021, he passed a law aimed at limiting the influence of a handful of oligarchs on the political and media life of the former Soviet republic.

Several billionaires are thus prohibited from financing political parties or meeting senior officials in private.

But the Ukrainian president faces strong opposition, especially from the Constitutional Court.

In October 2020, seized by pro-Russian deputies, the institution had invalidated a series of anti-corruption measures, including the criminal liability of officials guilty of false income declarations.

"An existential moment" for Ukraine

For Ukraine, the continuation of the anti-corruption reforms started in 2014 appears today as a vital issue, not only to continue to benefit from Western support but also to hope to integrate the ranks of the European Union and NATO.

Hailing the measures already in place to create "an impressive anti-corruption machine", in a speech in early July to Ukrainian MPs, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, encouraged Kyiv to accelerate the pace of reforms .

An essential step before you can hope to claim a European future.

"There are great institutions, but you have to be able to secure them by selecting the right people, especially in the courts," says Laurence Fabre.

>> To read: Ukraine's accession to the EU, a path strewn with pitfalls

According to some experts, the conflict with Russia, which has contributed to cementing the unity of the Ukrainian people, could favor the fight against corruption initiated by the government in kyiv.

"This is an existential moment. Ukrainians are fighting for their country, their freedom, their family, I don't believe corruption will be tolerated. There will be whistleblowers to stop this. That doesn't mean that there will be no temptations," former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told The New York Times.

"We are going to take the reconstruction of Ukraine, the reform of Ukraine very seriously," Volodymyr Zelensky's adviser, Alexander Rodnyansky, told AFP on the sidelines of the Lugano conference.

"EU membership is such a strong motivation that people will understand and support any major transformation or reform needed to achieve this goal."

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