Last week, Julia Soldatiuk-Westerveld, Max Eleveld and Wouter Zweers travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine. There, they briefed a core group of 30 Rule of Law specialists from the Ukrainian civil service on EU accession, with up to 100 others joining them online.

Our team informed the group in what to expect when meeting the European Commission for the upcoming bilateral screenings, as part of the accession process. 

Together they examined both written rules and procedures, as well as the unwritten, informal aspects of engaging with the Commission. Participants took part in mock high-level policy presentations, developed strategies, and worked together with our experts in a tailored roadmap exercise on Chapters 23 and 24.

One of many highlights was the all-women panel discussion with EU accession practitioners from the Western Balkans. Here, Dr. Fjoralba Caka, Dr. Jovana Marovic, Dr. Milica Kolakovic-Bojovic and Beba Zhagar shared lessons learned from the experiences of other candidate countries to the EU. Experts Dr. Viktoria Melnyk and Roman Smaliuk shared valuable insights.