Transparency as a Passport: Ukraine’s Route to the European Market
by LUCC brings Ukrainian and European experts together in Luxembourg to examine how transparency, credible governance and verifiable controls can strengthen market access and investor confidence
For Ukrainian companies seeking European markets, partners and capital, governance is no longer simply a compliance requirement. It is increasingly part of the investment case. This was the central message of the Governance, Integrity, Legal & Market Access Committee of the LUCC Advisory Platform, convened by the Luxembourg-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (LUCC) on 8 September.
Bringing together Ukrainian and European experts in anti-corruption, investment, governance and financial crime, the discussion focused on a practical question: how can Ukrainian businesses demonstrate — not simply declare — the transparency, ownership and controls expected by European counterparties and investors?
From transparency rules to transparency infrastructure
Veronika Khoptynska, Chief Specialist at Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), presented Ukraine’s Transparency Register, designed to make lobbying and influence on public decision-making visible and verifiable.
Figures presented during the session showed 206 registered lobbying entities, including 168 currently active, and 1,583 recorded interactions between lobbyists and public decision-makers.
“The Register is not merely an accounting mechanism. It is part of a broader effort to make policy influence transparent, predictable and accountable,” Khoptynska said.
The discussion highlighted a broader shift: transparency is increasingly moving from a policy commitment towards digital infrastructure that businesses, authorities and other stakeholders can independently verify.
Governance as a market-access capability
Olena Sukmanova, President of the Foundation “Safe Ukraine 2030” and Chair of the discussion, stressed that formal alignment with European rules must be reflected in business practice through workable compliance policies, sound governance and credible ownership information.
Balazs Kos, bringing a European and investment perspective, underlined that investment decisions depend on evidence of implementation — the company, project, team and controls behind an opportunity — rather than legislation on paper alone.
For Ukrainian companies, the commercial implication is significant: transparent ownership, credible controls and accessible information can become competitive assets when seeking European partners, markets and capital.
Investment requires integrity by design
The scale of future investment makes those safeguards particularly important.
Stefano Barone, Independent Compliance, Integrity & Financial Crime Consultant, discussed Ukraine’s reconstruction requirements, presented during the session at approximately USD 588 billion over the next decade, and identified procurement manipulation, money laundering, sanctions evasion and reconstruction fraud among the principal risks requiring attention.
His conclusion was not to retreat from investment, but to structure it properly:
“The recommendation is not to avoid investment, but to build integrity requirements into transactions from the first day, rather than add them after projects have begun.”
Participants stressed that this means moving beyond one-time onboarding checks towards ongoing verification of beneficial ownership, counterparties, supply chains and sanctions exposure.
Technology can help close the information gap
Martin Boehm highlighted the role of AI-supported tools in making Ukrainian-source information more accessible to European counterparties and helping overcome language and information barriers.
He also noted that Ukraine’s digital governance infrastructure is, in some respects, more advanced than many international observers assume.
Technology, participants agreed, should support rather than replace professional judgement — providing better evidence for better decisions.
From governance to competitiveness
Closing the session, Evgenia Paliy, President of the Luxembourg-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, emphasised the need to present a complete picture of Ukraine to international partners.
“Ukraine should not be judged only by the governance failures that become headlines. It should also be judged by whether those failures are detected, investigated and corrected — and by the institutions and transparency mechanisms being built to prevent them. Our responsibility is to show European partners both sides of that reality.”
The discussion produced a clear conclusion:
Governance is not an administrative obstacle to European integration. When it is credible, demonstrable and verifiable, it becomes part of the infrastructure for investment and market access.
For LUCC, the next question is practical: how can European standards, Ukraine’s transparency infrastructure and international expertise help make Ukrainian businesses easier to verify, easier to finance and easier to partner with?
The meeting formed part of the LUCC Advisory Platform, which brings together business leaders, institutions and experts through specialised committees addressing the practical conditions for stronger Luxembourg–Ukraine and European–Ukrainian economic cooperation.
ABOUT LUCC
The Luxembourg-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce (LUCC) connects Ukrainian and Luxembourg businesses, institutions and professionals and supports Ukraine’s economic integration with Europe.
Through its Advisory Platform, business forums, executive dialogues and other initiatives, LUCC brings together decision-makers and expertise around the practical challenges of investment, market access and cross-border cooperation.
