ANALYSIS OF UKRAINE’S COMPETITIVENESS: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Abstract

The article analyzes the competitiveness of Ukraine, identifies problems and outlines the prospects and consequences of the country’s European integration aspirations. A retrospective review of the development of the country’s economic model was conducted in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of reforms and identify errors that affected the place and role of the domestic economy in the world markets of goods and capital. This made it possible to single out certain comparative characteristics with the main theories of international trade and international investment. It was noted that unsuccessful attempts to quickly transform from a command-administrative economy to a mixed market system led to a loss of industrial potential and, accordingly, negatively affected the structure of foreign trade relations and the investment climate, which in turn led to a drop in the level of competitiveness of Ukraine. Along with this, the analysis of the key indicators of socio-economic development indicates certain positive changes in the period 2002-2012, which was reflected in the dynamics of GDP growth, an increase in incoming investment flows, stabilization of inflation at the targeted level and overall improved welfare of society. However, the uncertainty and constant change of the vector of economic integration together with the change of power led to the deterioration of the state’s economic condition and made sustainable economic growth impossible. The period of revival of business and investment activity in the post-Covid 2021 year was replaced by a deep crisis with the beginning of the war. At the same time, the aspiration of our state to join the European community nevertheless gave a powerful impetus to the implementation and implementation of innovative reforms, which made it possible to achieve certain success in the direction of digitalization, infrastructure development, and further implementation of educational, medical, and social reforms even during the conduct of military operations. Currently, on the way to European integration, Ukraine is overcoming the difficult path of transforming its economic system to the requirements and values of the EU. Our country, together with the European Union, needs to solve the issues of labor migration and refugees, the introduction of a duty-free regime for domestic goods, the creation of a safe investment climate, etc. And there is not always unity in the choice of tools for solving these issues in the EU countries. Ukraine needs to use its advantages in logistics, geographical location, labor and natural resources, develop an industrial direction, introduce modern technologies, improve its energy independence and take an active part in integration processes. Finding compromises and political will allow Ukraine to successfully reform the socio-economic model and become a full member of the EU.