EU MEMBERS ALARMED BY UKRAINE REFORMS CURBS – Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies being restricted in their functions
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a controversial bill that hands sweeping authority to Ukraine’s prosecutor general over the country’s independent anticorruption agencies.
This triggered the largest antigovernment protests on Tuesday since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. More protests are expected Wednesday.
The new legislation, now law, gives the prosecutor general power to control and reassign investigations led by the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
NABU and SAPO are two key institutions that have long symbolised Ukraine’s post-Euromaidan commitment to rooting out high-level corruption. Critics say the move strips these agencies of their independence and risks turning them into political tools.
Protests erupted in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa, with demonstrators holding signs reading “Veto the law” and “We chose Europe, not autocracy.”
Many saw the legislation as a betrayal of Ukraine’s decade-long push towards democratic governance, transparency, and European Union membership.
EU lawmakers today also voiced their concern over curbs on Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies.
