Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine jump-started Ukraine’s path towards EU accession. As it began, clear signs of solidarity from Brussels were mirrored with big promises in Kyiv to reform and modernize in line with European regulations. A reality check followed due to the obvious hurdles on this path. Ukraine is at war, 20 percent of the country is occupied, its largest industrial region is destroyed, it is the poorest country in Europe, has had a massive population decline which has been exacerbated by the war, while decades of instability, oligarchy, and neoliberalism have resulted in woefully low trust in government institutions that would be necessary for such wide-spread reform.
European integration seems to have grown increasingly difficult and incoherent with every wave of new member states joining the union. Nevertheless, integrating a country being attacked and fighting to maintain its sovereignty brings its own set of unprecedented challenges. The pace of reform is too slow for the EU, while Ukrainians are also increasingly concerned. On the one hand, the October 2024 assessment of Ukraine’s compliance progression with EU standards show highly evaluated digitalization, customs, energy, and security standards. On the other hand, there was no further improvements in these sectors from the previous year, and low scores remained in labour mobility, social policy, employment, agriculture, rural development, financial control, and degree of competitiveness on the European market.
Despite left-wing critique and scepticism vis-à-vis the EU, some of the necessary reforms have positive aims and, if implemented, would mean improvements for the Ukrainian population. This is particularly true for reforms related to state structures and development. Other demands of European integration, however, would perpetuate neoliberalism and its negative consequences. Generally speaking, many socio-economic issues are overlooked or not prioritized in the integration and assessment process.
Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that many Ukrainians are hopeful that EU membership will not only bring economic prosperity, but also strengthen democracy, ensure stability, and improve living and working conditions. Ukrainian leftists in particular are looking for partnerships with other European leftists to fight for Ukraine’s fair and beneficial integration into the EU, and put vital socio-economic issues at the forefront of the negotiations. The EU has leverage over Ukraine and will financially influence the development path Ukraine can take post-war — a path of social and just development, or of neoliberal and one-sided integration.
There are many systemic difficulties when looking towards alignment with European law and integration standards, all of which are worsened by the state of war. Nevertheless, there are leftists with policy solutions that aim to reduce social and political polarization, and aid Ukraine in a fair reconstruction and beneficial European integration. This collection of policy briefs speak to those key socio-economic issues that need to be more urgently addressed on the path towards European integration, along with the solutions available for policymakers in Kyiv and Brussels.
Deindustrialization, the loss of 50 percent of energy production due to damage and occupation, and high foreign debt are economic hurdles for the country when looking towards post-war rebuilding. Serhii Huz assumes in his policy paper that the Ukrainian government will try to solve these problems with further radical neoliberal reforms, which have repeatedly failed over the last decades and increased poverty rates. His alternative long-term recommendations include coupling energy reconstruction with decentralized and sustainable energy sources. Biogas, for example, has massive potential in Ukraine considering its agricultural economy. Furthermore, improving social security would reduce energy poverty, while renewing energy efficiency standards would also have a lasting effect by improving the quality of housing, reducing household costs and, in turn, positively affecting quality of life.
The largest upcoming tasks related to the rebuilding of the country are sure be slowed down by Ukraine’s foreign debt. For an effective reconstruction, Ukraine needs to have debt cancellation on the table at all negotiations, according to Victoria Pihul. The so-called special drawing rights (SDR) from the IMF could also play an important positive role.
Ukraine’s massive agricultural sector will require both reforms of EU agricultural subsidies as well as of Ukrainian law. Natalia Mamonova and Mihai Varga note that there is much to learn from the EU-integration of other post-Communist states with large agricultural sectors. Small farms have little to gain from European integration and risk dying out as a consequence of broader access to Ukraine’s fertile land and agricultural production. Government protections for small agricultural producers, including fighting for quotas for small farms’ production on international markets, are just some of the policies proposed by the authors to prevent a complete sell-out and conglomeration of the country’s farmland.
The fight against trade union organizing, deteriorating working conditions, and high poverty levels are socio-economic issues that will exacerbate the labour shortage in Ukraine and haunt the country when it comes to rebuilding. The neoliberal status quo and newer radical changes to labour law and occupational safety standards are justified by citing the war, but Olena Tkalich disagrees with this logic. Her many policy recommendations include strengthening the co-determination of trade unions in labour law, improving minimum standards for the self-employed, and stricter monitoring of social standards by the EU within EU-funded initiatives. These initiatives would encourage Ukrainians to return to the country and boost worker-centred economic growth.
A high rate of out-migration and number of internally displaced persons paired with the lack of government control over the housing market similarly has the potential to prevent people from staying in or returning to Ukraine. A long-lasting lack of labour would significantly hinder economic recovery and lengthen the road to rebuilding. As Vita Schnaider notes, housing policy in the EU is primarily regulated on a national level, but practically speaking, the EU has a large influence on the housing market in Ukraine by considering which housing projects they choose to (co-)finance or not. Schnaider writes, “Ukraine requires more than local capital reinforced by subsidies for private construction firms … it demands a significant reallocation of financial resources to establish a robust public housing system and regulate the private market.”
As other authors, Schnaider points to negative examples of other post-Communist EU member states influenced by EU money to push through mass privatizations. In the end, however, he also determines that the lack of political will in the local context is responsible for the current housing crisis felt all over the EU. In Ukraine’s case, with such a high number of destroyed homes and displaced persons, more creative ideas and public initiative is necessary. In turn, solutions rooted in social justice rather than market-based merit could positively influence the broken housing market in other parts of Europe as well.
The rising poverty rate will be virtually unstoppable as long as the war continues. Nevertheless, those affected cannot simply be ignored indefinitely, writes Vladyslav Starodubtsev. If Kyiv wants to combat poverty now, it should finally abandon its neoliberal economic ideology. Starodubtsev proposes several options for improving the situation, including an expansion of care and internally displaced persons, protection against discrimination, employment guarantees, a revision of the labour code, and compliance with the European Social Charter.
The situation of (paid) female workers in Ukraine is unique to a country in war. Many previously male-dominated fields have quickly opened up to more female employment due to the lack of men on the labour market. Although the gender pay gap in Ukraine shrunk with the last minimum wage increase, due to most minimum-wage workers being women, newer statistics on women in the labour force have not been released since the full-scale invasion began. Increased pay and better regulation of the healthcare sector would provide the largest direct improvement for female workers, Olena Tklalich notes. Under the guise of traditional values and protecting women, there is a risk that women will again be pushed out of “male industries” to “make room” for the men returning from the front. In her policy paper, Tkalich suggests that improvements in salaries, working conditions, and employee protection as well as state-led occupational safety monitoring (as opposed to relying on the self-regulation of enterprises) could ensure that the gender-pay and employment gaps are reduced post-war and long-term.
In her text, Olena Slobodian analyses the situation in the healthcare sector since its reform in 2017 and believes the state ought to invest more, but international donor countries have a duty to provide more funding. Slobodian also presents possible improvements through improved and more social policy in Ukraine. More pressure from Brussels could be helpful in realizing these policy changes, but the EU must finally take social justice issues more seriously in the integration process to do so.
In this collection of policy papers, eight authors cover issues related to agriculture, energy, industry, labour law, the housing market, female employment, healthcare, and trade union organizing in Ukraine. All of these topics need more attention and better approaches in the EU, based on fairness and solidarity. These policy papers clearly point out the systemic challenges Ukraine and the EU face in general, as well as those caused or worsened by the war. They also provide strong recommendations and tangible proposals to policymakers in Kyiv as well as in Brussels. Looking towards the European integration, these recommendations can turn words of solidarity into action, aiding the Ukrainian working class and strengthening Ukraine for a fair and mutually beneficial integration process.