Human Development and Ukraine's European Choice

The Report shows that on the basis of most human development indicators Ukraine lags far behind all EU member countries, including Romania and Bulgaria which joined the EU in 2007. This is a particularly important comparison given that Ukraine has proclaimed and frequently re-affirmed that its key foreign policy goal is to join the European Union. This geo-political aspiration, often referred to as the European Choice, must be considered in tandem with Ukraine’s equally important socio-economic commitment to human development, evidenced in its adoption of its own Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These two intertwined concepts constitute a fundamental frame of reference for policy-making in Ukraine. Hence, this report aims to examine the relationship between these two overarching agendas with their own system of goals, targets, and ways of tracking progress. The objective is to compare the two agendas and see whether they are consistent with each other, and if they are, then to determine what the consequences of their implementation can be.