How Ukraine progressed toward the EU in 2024 and where it lags behind
In 2024, the first Ukraine-EU intergovernmental conference at the ministerial level officially launched accession negotiations with the European Union. Following this, the European Commission began screening Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU law.
The first negotiation clusters are expected to open this year, making a thorough and professional monitoring of Ukraine’s European integration process even more crucial.
The UAEUmeter project, launched in September 2023 by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, in cooperation with the Bendukidze Free Market Center and leading experts, monitors Ukraine’s EU integration progress.
Read more about Ukraine’s European integration dynamics in the article by Vyacheslav Sadovnychyi – EU integration with complications: which sectors are leading and which are lagging behind.
A month-by-month analysis over a year-long interval helps identify the economic sectors that have been either the frontrunners or laggards in reforms in 2024.
There are three biggest underperformers.
Regulatory liberalisation for businesses has proven difficult during wartime. The entrepreneurship and industrial policy sector (with an average monthly progress score of 0.69) struggled throughout the year, with scores barely exceeding one except in June.
Experts evaluated events on a scale from -3 (strongest negative impact on Ukraine’s EU accession) to +3 (strongest positive impact), with zero being neutral.
The social policy and employment sector also received low scores, averaging 0.74. Some progress was made toward joining the European Employment Services Network, which aims to facilitate labour mobility, and the European Social Network, which connects social services across 30+ countries.
Ukraine actively implemented the Istanbul Convention and continued harmonising its legislation.
The rule of law sector performed slightly better, averaging 0.79 points, but still faced challenges. Ukraine failed to meet two key IMF structural benchmarks, overturning the "Lozovyi amendments" and establishing a Higher Administrative Court, highlighting the slow pace of judicial reforms.
Some changes took place, however, including staffing improvements in the Constitutional Court, the High Qualification Commission of Judges, and the High Council of Justice. Some appointments even scored above 2 points.
The transport sector showed the strongest progress, with an average score of 0.98. A key milestone was the extension of the EU’s "transport visa-free" agreement, which scored 2.32 points.
The free movement of goods and customs sector also improved, averaging 1.2 points.
Some reforms overlapped with those in the transport sector, but there were distinct advances, such as customs digitalisation. An important event was the extension of the EU-Ukraine duty-free trade regime for another year, until June 2025 (scoring 1.68).
To further boost exports, Ukraine supported the ratification of a free trade agreement with Türkiye and updated laws on protecting domestic producers from subsidised (1.24) and dumping imports (1.35).
The digital sector showed the highest growth, averaging 1.34 points. Positive changes were noted in projects such as ePermit, uResidency, e-identification and trust services, and Diia.Signature.
Ukraine is also keeping pace with AI regulation trends, making this one of the most promising areas for 2025.