France calls on Ukraine to revise the law on NABU and SAPO: “It is not too late to fix everything”
23 July 2025 14:58
French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said that Ukraine still has a chance to repeal controversial amendments to the law that limit the independence of anti-corruption bodies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP). This is reported by Sky News, "Komersant Ukrainian".
on July 23, France joined international criticism after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Law 1241 the day before, which, according to a number of Ukraine’s partners, “destroys the independence of the anti-corruption infrastructure.”
“It’s not too late to reverse this decision. We will follow the developments very closely,” Haddad said.
Earlier, the governments of the Netherlands and Sweden expressed a similar position. The Dutch Foreign Minister emphasized that the independence of anti-corruption bodies is a key condition for Ukraine’s European integration. The Swedish Foreign Ministry pointed out that the new law raises “serious concerns” about the autonomy of Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions.
In addition, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned that such actions by Kyiv could negatively affect both defense investments in Ukraine and funding for post-war reconstruction.
What is known about draft law No. 12414:
- The Prosecutor General receives broad powers over NABU and SAPO:
- access to all cases and the right to transfer them to other bodies;
- the ability to give binding written instructions to detectives;
- close investigations at the request of the defense;
- resolve disputes over jurisdiction independently;
- to sign suspicions against top officials without the SAPO’s participation ⟶ effectively turning the SAPO into a nominal body and the NABU into a subdivision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
How it happened
- The amendments were introduced to draft law No. 12414 (originally on missing soldiers) by Buzhansky and Mamka at the last minute before the vote.
- The Verkhovna Rada adopted the amendments on July 22, with 263 MPs voting in favor.
Resonance and reaction
- The NABU, the SAPO, experts and analysts call the law a destruction of the anti-corruption infrastructure. The bureau’s management characterized SAPO as a “nominal figure” and NABU as a unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
- NABU acting director Semen Kryvonos said it was a threat to Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations and called for a blocking resolution.
- TheSBU and the PGO simultaneously conducted more than 70 searches of NABU and SAPO employees.
- Mass protests in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and other cities were the first significant protests during the war.
International reaction
- The EU, OECD, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden expressed serious concern:
- the independence of anti-corruption bodies is a key condition for EU accession;
- the attack could undermine trust, hinder defense investment and reconstruction.
What’s next
- President Zelenskyy signs the law, explains that it is a cleansing of Russian influence, and promises a new anti-corruption strategy in two weeks.
- The parliament and analysts are preparing an appeal to the Constitutional Court and considering vetoing the law.
