Our latest issue of the Media Digest features publications about key events of February that reflect the conditions and prospects of relations between the European Union and Ukraine.
EU-Ukraine Summit – key takeaways and the Joint Statement
For the first time in history, Ukraine took part in the summit as a candidate for joining the EU.
In her remarks, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized that ‘only one year ago, no one could have imagined how fast Ukraine could move towards the European Union’. Due to tragic circumstances, the situation has changed, and as President von der Leyen noted, “Today, we have come to the heart of Europe. Because Ukraine has become the centre of our continent. The place where our values are upheld, where our freedom is defended, where the future of Europe is written”.
The EU high-ranking officials brought a clear message to Kyiv – Ukraine will be a member of the European Union, but it still needs to make its way.
EU and Ukraine share common destiny…
‘This Summit has made two things absolutely clear. The first is a message for you and for the people of Ukraine. The European Union will support you in every way we can, for as long as it takes. We are not intimidated and will not be intimated by the Kremlin. Because Ukraine and the EU we are family. And my second message: the future of Ukraine is within the European Union. Ukrainian people, you have made a clear choice for freedom, democracy, and rule of law. And we in the EU have also made a clear decision: your future is with us, in our common European Union, your destiny is our destiny’, concluded the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the press conference after the EU-Ukraine Summit in Kyiv.
Josep Borrel on how to enable Ukraine’s Victory
‘The goal is for Ukraine to prevail against its aggressor. But we cannot wish for that end without giving Ukraine the means to achieve it. The alternative is a prolonged war of attrition, leading to more deaths in Ukraine, greater insecurity for Europe, and continued suffering around the world’, said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrel, regarding the conditions for Ukraine’s victory and the role of the EU and partners in making this victory happen.
ALGORITHM OF UKRAINE’S ACCESSION TO EU
From liberation of Crimea to the EU path – assessing the EU-Ukraine Summit decisions
The key takeaway of the Summit is a Joint Statement that reflects opinions and demands of both parties. However, this is a document written in a diplomatic language. In order to explain its substance, we publish an annotated translation of this document. Comments and explanations of what individual details mean in the joint document are marked in dark green.
The time for drafts is over…
On February 2, a day before the landmark EU-Ukraine Summit in Kyiv, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for work towards the start of Ukraine’s accession negotiations to the European Union. The resolution was supported by 489 MEPs, 49 abstained, and 36 voted against. Such a division of opinion is inspiring, but it should make Ukraine think more whether the negotiations will begin and whether they will reach the desired outcome for Ukraine to join the EU, since it depends only on the country’s success in the reforms. The European Union will provide all the necessary support, but the time for drafts is over, and Ukraine must successfully pass this exam.
EU audited Ukraine’s reforms
On February 2, Ursula von der Leyen presented the [Commission Analytical Report on Ukraine’s Alignment with the EU Acquis] (an analytical report supplementing the opinion of the European Commission regarding Ukraine’s application to join the European Union) to Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the joint meeting between the Government and the European Commission in Kyiv. In essence, this is a review of Ukraine’s progress in adopting EU Acquis and a benchmark for future accession negotiations.
MILITARY ASSISTANCE AND SECURITY
‘Ukraine’s future is at stake” – the country receives modern weapons and military support
The EU will continue to provide military support to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility and is also ready to provide additional €45 million for ‘non-lethal equipment’ for the Ukrainian military training mission.
In a nutshell, at the turn of 2022-2023, a pivotal moment has come in the approaches of our Western partners to military support to Ukraine. Whereas, before December 2022, the only heavy armoured vehicles transferred to Ukraine had exclusively been the Soviet-era BMP-1 and T-72 and their modifications from the Eastern European nations, one would not see them in the latest military assistance packages anymore. Ukraine is switching to NATO weaponry. Both the quantities of weapons and their supply pace have undergone significant changes.
ECONOMY AND FINANCE
Ukraine signed the Single Market Agreement with the EU
In January, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed on order ‘On the delegation of Ukraine to negotiate with the European Commission on the agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, on the other hand, regarding Ukraine’s participation in the European Union Single Market Programme 2021 -2027’.
And already at the beginning of February, the document was signed. The Single Market Programme with a budget of EUR 4.2 billion focuses on green and digital transitions and should contribute to more competitive Ukrainian business.
The new package of EU sanctions will cost Russia over EUR 10 billion
As the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated at the press conference following the Special Meeting of the European Council in early February, the 10th package of sanctions will cost the Russian Federation more than €10 billion.
On February 25, the package was approved and entered into force. Restrictive measures are introduced, in particular, for goods that are almost irreplaceable and cannot be sourced from anywhere else. The imposed sanctions target 121 individuals and legal entities, including those responsible for the deportation and forced adoption of at least 6,000 Ukrainian children, as well as propagandist Russian media.
EUR 1 billion for fast recovery of schools, hospitals and roads destroyed by the Russian aggression
The first instalment under fast recovery will be channelled by the European Commission to recover vital public infrastructure. This was announced by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv. “And therefore, it is so important that we immediately start with the fast recovery. This is embedded in the larger process of reconstruction. I am glad that we could announce that the first EUR 1 billion for fast recovery will be provided. We have now our secretariat between Kyiv and the European Commission up and running. So, the work can start immediately to make sure that the recovery shows deliverables immediately on the ground”, said the Commission President.
THE ENERGY FRONT AND THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL
Ukrainians exchanged more than
5 000 000
light bulbs over two weeks
5 000 000
light bulbs over two weeks
More than a million Ukrainians have already joined the Government’s Lamp Exchange Programme supported by the EU. Another 2.2 million energy-saving bulbs were ordered for exchange through the Diia App.
The European Union provided 35 million light bulbs for exchange, France added another 5 million, and in total – 50 million archaic bulbs will be replaced to save up to 1 gigawatt of electricity. This programme is a component of the EU support for Ukraine’s energy front and countering the devastating Russian aggression.
Energy hub to support Ukraine – together we will pass this winter
The rescEU energy hub has begun its operations in Poland and will become a logistical centre for delivering emergency energy assistance to Ukraine. Generators, transformers, other energy equipment and even modern energy-saving light bulbs constitute a powerful support package for Ukraine’s energy sector, which the EU has been providing since the beginning of Russia’s attacks on the heating and power supply infrastructures of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages. Countries and ordinary citizens responded to the EU call to support the Ukrainian energy front. Through rescEU, this assistance will be delivered to Ukraine even faster.
The Energy Community launched the Energy Market Observatory in Ukraine
The newly established Energy Market Observatory will monitor energy market and corporate governance developments in Ukraine to afterwards publish and disseminate data among the engaged domestic and international stakeholders in full compliance with confidentiality requirements.
This will contribute to the further integration of the Ukrainian energy sector with the EU and building on trust in predictable and transparent industry management according to the European standards, rules and practices.
The EU will send more generators and LED bulbs to Ukraine
As the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated during a joint press conference with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the European Union will deliver additional 2.4 thousand generators and 45 million LED light bulbs.
President von der Leyen expressed confidence that the common energy market will work at its full capacity, and Ukraine and the EU will make it through many winters together.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
A community in Dnipropetrovsk region developed and approved an Investment Passport
U-LEAD with Europe experts helped the Novopokrovsk community (Dnipropetrovsk region) to develop an Investment Passport.
The community includes more than 30 settlements, so the developers took stock of each of them, studied what businesses work and what can be started in the future. They analysed the driving forces – utilities, logistics and human capital available.
Volyn communities will get entrepreneurship training
Within the scope of the international cooperation program ‘EU4Business: SME Competitiveness and Internationalization’ implemented by the GIZ Ukraine on behalf of the EU and the German Government, the Prybuzhzhia Regional Development Agency, Volodymyr and Novovolynsk city councils organized free training for residents of the Volodymyr-Volynskyy and Novovolynsk communities called “Entrepreneur from Scratch.
30 local community residents who want to start their own business or those with up to 5 years of entrepreneurial experience will be able to gain the necessary knowledge on how to register their own business, where to find investment, how to develop business plans and promote their business online.