PROSPECTS FOR UKRAINE’S INTEGRATION INTO THE EU
УДК 331.6(477.62)
Стрельнікова Є.А., студентка 4 курсу
ХНЕУ ім. С. Кузнеця
European integration is a process of political, legal, economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states, including those partially located in Europe. Now European integration is achieved mainly through the expansion of the European Union and the Council of Europe. After independence, Ukraine made a decision on the European direction of its foreign policy. Today, the European Union (EU) is one of the main partners of Ukraine, which is interested in supporting and developing strong, predictable, transparent and open relations.
Since 1998 Ukraine has cooperated with the EU in the format of the Program for the Integration of Ukraine into the European Union. The key provision of the Program, to which the State Property Fund of Ukraine was involved, provided for the development of stock market infrastructure and the reform of the energy sector with effective privatization. The EU has always focused on the fact that the key condition for the integration of Ukraine into the European economic space was and remains the successful completion of internal reforms [2].
The implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which provides for the transition from the principles of partnership and cooperation to the principles of political association and economic integration, will contribute to bringing Ukraine – EU bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level, as well as creating conditions for preparing Ukraine’s EU accession. The agreement regulates political, economic and cultural relations between Ukraine and the EU and is the legal basis for bilateral trade. One of the main objectives of the Agreement is the promotion of trade and investment attraction, as well as the development of harmonious economic relations between Ukraine and the EU.
On June 27, 2014, at the meeting of the EU Council, the President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko signed the text of the Agreement on behalf of Ukraine. The agreement is expected to contribute to reducing corruption, improving consumer protection, increasing the export of Ukrainian goods and services to EU countries, improving the business climate for small and medium-sized businesses, social policy, education, introducing new environmental control standards, developing the space industry, science, technology and information society [1].
On September 16, 2014, the Supreme Council of Ukraine and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the Agreement.
So, many experts said that Ukraine has a chance to become a member of the EU, but there are many obstacles to accomplishing this goal. If we talk about trade, now there is a reorientation towards the markets of the European Union countries. So, the European Union is becoming Ukraine’s largest trading partner, which is in line with the overall strategic goal of national foreign economic development. But even here there are some points that are worth paying attention to: quotas for trade with the EU; non-compliance of most products with EU standards; exports to the EU mainly of raw materials.
The purpose of this article to draw attention not so much to trade and the general theoretical positions of joining the European Union, but rather to the dominance of monopolies in Ukraine.
It seems that it is a huge problem for the further development of the country’s economy, since monopolies do not allow the market to develop; there is no competition that spurs the market to development. Monopolies also affect the quality of life of ordinary people, not just business. For example, all energy is in private hands. Owners do not upgrade equipment, do not improve anything, but only make a profit. Another example is the Ukrainian railway. This is a state monopoly. As in private monopolies, state monopolies do not improve the quality of products or services because consumers have no alternative. So, the Ukrainian railway provides services, and they are a monopolist in the Ukrainian market.
Consumers simply cannot choose anything else, and have to adapt to the monopolist. Firstly, they control prices. Secondly, it can reduce passenger traffic, thus creating a shortage. Thirdly, they can afford not to apologize to customers if there is a mistake on their part. Business, too, was losing money because of “Ukrzaliznytsia”. For example, grain is transported mainly by rail in special wagons, which are called grain-carriers. Most grain carriers in Ukraine belong to “Ukrzaliznytsya” or other state-owned companies, private companies own only a quarter of the park. Thanks to this advantage, “Ukrzaliznytsia” had the opportunity to manipulate the distribution of grain-carriers and other freight wagons, holding them by agreement - obvious corruption. Because of this, the business got losses, lost contracts, the budget lost profits. They have now created an online monitoring system, but many doubt its effectiveness [3].
There are enough monopolies in Ukraine: Ukrzaliznytsya, Naftogaz, Ukrtelecom, DTEK and others. Some monopolists even try to prove that monopolistic markets can be liberalized. But the truth is that you can only liberalize markets in which there is competition and those where there is a monopolist must be regulated so that it does not abuse its monopoly position. And ideally, you should strive to ensure that there are no monopolies at all.
Because Ukraine remains one of the poorest countries in Europe, largely due to the fact that the Ukrainian government is more likely to care about monopolists’ profits, instead of providing clear rules for the development of competitive markets in which, thanks to competition, the quality of goods, services, reduced price. This is also the law of economics, which so far has not been able to refute.
REFERENCES
Науковий керівник
старший викладач Михайлова Л.З.