Majority of EBA member companies positive about Ukrainian Euro-integration movement's impact on business

MOSCOW. Oct 18 (Interfax) - Seventy-one percent of member companies of the European Business Association (EBA) are positive about the influence of Ukraine's European integration movement on business, EBA Deputy Director Svetlana Mikhailovskaya said.

"Twenty-one percent view this influence as neutral and 8% as negative. Another rather interesting thing is that 95% are prepared to work on the European Union market, 31% believe they are fully prepared, 38% are mostly prepared, and 26% are partially prepared," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Mikhailovskaya as saying in her statement at the presentation of the survey at the Ukraine on the Path to the EU conference on Thursday.

According to the EBA's website, 83% of businesses are willing to participate in forming Ukraine's negotiating position regarding EU accession.

As for evaluations of Ukraine's overall progress in fulfilling its EU integration obligations, 52% of respondents believe it is satisfactory, and 5% of them believe it is significant. At that, 42% of respondents evaluate Ukraine's European integration efforts as insignificant and 2% of those polled believe that there has been no progress at all.

Speaking about separate tracks, the poll participants saw the most progress in digital transformation and media (four points out of five), transport policy (3.07 points), and agriculture and rural development (3.05 points)

"Our progress on the tracks of the judicial authorities and fundamental rights (1.71 points) and justice, freedom and security (1.76 points) was rated the worst. It brings us back to the need to focus on fundamental reforms which are a prerequisite for any changes, transformations and Euro-integration rights," Mikhailovskaya said.

According to participants in the survey, the business community has the best dialogue on European integration issues among state authorities with the cabinet of ministers (2.92 points), followed by other central executive bodies (2.81 points), the Verkhovna Rada (2.53 points), and local authorities (2.46 points).

The business community believes that Ukraine's prompt implementation of its European integration commitments is hindered by low institutional capacity (78%), including a lack of resources and professional personnel, insufficient expertise among state authorities, civil society, and businesses (71%), and a lack of political will (62%).

Another 35% of those polled said that businesses do not have access to financial support tools from EU funds, and 29% of respondents believe the EU's information support and technical assistance are insufficient.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they believe Ukraine would take from five to ten years to become a full member of the EU. Another 30% of those polled believe that the country could join the EU in the next five years, and 26% of survey participants believe it would take more than ten years.

The poll was conducted member companies of the EBA from June 25 to August 22, 2024. Among the surveyed companies, 59% supply goods or services to the EU market, 58% import goods or services from it, and 8% plan to enter the market.