Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to pass a law that effectively eliminates the independence of Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) is a grave strategic mistake and a threat to continued international aid, writes The Economist magazine.
„With indecent haste, Zelensky signed the new law on the same day it was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada and adopted by it. But this is not just a bad law, it is a grave strategic mistake“, the publication notes. As the article says, the adopted law is „a direct threat to the international support that helped Ukraine during the war. Voters’ patience is not unlimited. In most Western countries, support for Ukraine is waning. After three and a half years of war with no end in sight, Western leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to justify the extent of their commitment to Ukraine. If Ukraine begins to resemble the corrupt authoritarian system it once sought to escape, Western politicians will find it increasingly difficult to argue that the country is worth defending, writes The Economist.
The publication acknowledges that the West bears some responsibility for this, because in glorifying Zelensky, it has “turned a blind eye to his growing list of mistakes.” These include the government’s persecution of anti-corruption activists, asset freezes and travel bans on “political enemies of the government” such as former President Petro Poroshenko. “Friends of Ukraine have not done enough to publicly point out these mistakes“, writes The Economist.
On Tuesday, Zelensky signed a law passed by the Verkhovna Rada that effectively eliminates the independence of NABU and SAP, sparking protests in Kiev and other major cities across the country. Under the law, which came into effect on July 23, Ukraine’s prosecutor general becomes the head of SAP prosecutors, effectively transferring the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office to his subordination and influencing cases handled by NABU. The law also lifts the ban on transferring cases from NABU to other agencies, and the prosecutor general will now be able to take over NABU proceedings and transfer them to other prosecutors.