How the international audit destroyed the monopoly of “grant reformers” and why Ukraine needs an open model of lobbying

Oleksandr Chernykh, Vice President of the Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association

On February 5, 2026, an event took place in the hall of the European Parliament that is likely to become a turning point in the history of Ukrainian legal reforms. The presentation of the report “The Ukrainian National Bar Association in the Context of the Rule of Law and European Integration” prepared by the American Armada Network was the cold shower that Kyiv, which was so much in need of a populist “activist” Kyiv.

The document, presented by former US Congressman Gregg Harper, did not just analyze the state of affairs; it actually deconstructed the mythology on which an entire industry of “reformers,” grant organizations, and some officials had been building for years.

This is a phenomenon that has long gone beyond the boundaries of individual institutions. In Ukraine, a closed ecosystem of “grant advocacy” has formed, where the result is not the goal. The goal is the process. And the longer the “crisis” lasts, the more stable the funding is.

This is a system in which:

• one organization creates information noise;
• Another uses it as “proof of a problem.”
• The third receives funding to “solve” it.

This is a classic “echo chamber” where reality is replaced by repetition.
And where the question of “what will happen to the country” gives way to the question of “will there be another grant”.

That is why the degree of tension is constantly rising. That is why it seems like a permanent crisis. That is why any alternative position is automatically labeled as “anti-European.”

The American audit for the first time systematically showed the weakness of this model.

Armada experts directly pointed out the key problem: the so-called “shadow reports” that have been shaping the perception of the state of reforms for years were often prepared without basic analysis, without communication with the institutions being evaluated, and without comparison with real European practices.

In fact, we are talking about a situation where a diagnosis is made without an examination.

When convenient quotes are extracted from different legal systems, distorted and presented as a “European standard”.
When the position of a few stakeholders is presented as the position of the entire professional community.

And when 70,000 specialists are left out of the dialog, and decisions are made within a narrow circle of “experts by appointment.”

Against this backdrop, a different approach is crucial – one of openness, transparency and responsibility.

The Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association is based on this model.

UNLA today is the only professional association that:

• has a systemic anti-corruption component in its operations;
• ensures institutional representation of Ukrainian interests in the European Union;
• works as an open platform, not as a closed group of influence;
• Forms positions based on expertise, not grant expediency.

This is a fundamental difference.

We do not create a “vision of honesty” – we work in a model where transparency is a basic condition, not a declaration.

And that is why the approach demonstrated by the international audit actually confirms it:
The future belongs to open institutions, not to closed parties.

Another important message of the report is criticism of attempts to manipulate European integration rhetoric.

The so-called roadmap is presented as a non-negotiable imperative.
In fact, as international experts have clearly stated, it is a policy framework document, not a legal obligation to destroy existing institutions.

That is, Europe does not require dismantling.
It requires quality.

The section on digitalization deserves special attention. Ideas that are presented as progress in Ukraine are explicitly called risky in the report, especially in times of war.

Total digitalization without the proper level of protection is not an innovation, but a potential vulnerability.

And another fundamental point is lawfare.

The use of law as an instrument of pressure, public harassment, blacklisting, and the identification of lawyers with clients – all of this has nothing to do with the rule of law. These are signs of the degradation of legal culture.

In the end, the Armada Network report did what should have happened long ago:
It broke the monopoly on the “right position”.

He showed that there is another reality-the reality of facts, not grant narratives.

For Ukraine, this means one thing.

The model in which reforms are a tool for self-reproduction of certain groups has exhausted itself.
A model based on openness, professionalism, and responsibility is just beginning.

And this model should become the basis for public policy making.

Not because of the noise.
It’s the institutions.

Not because of imitation.
But because of the content.

Original text in the blog of Oleksandr Chernykh on LIGA.net.