Regional policies and EU requirements: what Ukraine needs to do

The European Commission’s analytical report on Ukraine’s alignment with the EU acquis continues to gather reviews of sectoral experts.

Considering the important of this discussion for the European prospects of Ukraine, Yevropeyska Pravda is providing a platform for expert opinions and recommendations.

Ukraine is getting ready to become a member of the European Union. The accession negotiations could start at the end of this year. For the time being, the Ukrainian government is formulating its negotiations position and doing its homework.

On February 2, the European Commission published an analytical report on Ukraine’s alignment with the EU acquis. This document is an examination sheet, and each parameter (there are 31 in total) is a subject exam.

It is worth taking a closer look at such parameter as regional policy, because it is as important for the European Union as public procurement, green energy and security.

As of now, Ukrainian received 2 out of 5 points for its regional policy.

This means that Ukraine’s regional policy needs improvement in several areas, primarily legal framework.

The necessary legislative framework to manage structural funds in compliance with the requirements of Article 174 and 175 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is currently missing in Ukraine. It is related to supporting rural areas, remote and sparsely populated areas, and industrialized zones. All economic policies in the EU must be subordinated to these goals.

Ukraine does not have a fund similar to the European Social Fund+, and the State Regional Development Fund, which does operate in Ukraine, currently fulfills other goals.

This means that Ukraine needs to change its priorities regarding the allocation of budget funds within the framework of the funds, which will also impact the projects that communities can initiate and implement.

Institutional framework is another point.

In regards to the institution framework, the European Commission points to the need for better coordination between central, regional and local authorities. The level of coordination must be improved to provide a possibility for managing European structural funds.

As an option, Ukraine may consider the experience of Poland and establish a structure similar to the Centre of European Project, which is managing a part of European financial funds.The main objective of the Centre, which is subordinated to Minister of Regional Development is to increase the absorption efficiency of European funds, exercise control over their rational use. The centre specializes in supporting transborder and international cooperation.

As for financing, it should be taken into account that the EU has long-term budgets in place: for example, the current budget period started in 2021 and will end in 2027.

This also requires a somewhat different approach to planning and management.

Administrative capacity is another area Ukraine needs to improve in regional policy, according to the analytical report.

The European Commission’s notes on this matter are concise and clear: the decentralised bodies lack the specific cohesion policy experience necessary to act as the managing authorities of future regional programmes.

This can be clearly observed in numerous examples of the implementation of International Technical Assistance projects in the Lviv Oblast: not all projects are implemented on time, changes are often made to projects and their duration is extended, which indicates an unwillingness to make high-quality management decisions.

The solution for this situation is training of personnel of local self-government bodies, who will sharpen their organizational capacity.

As for the programming documents, the European Commission has indicated certain progress. However, to be honest, the synchronization of state program documents with regional and local programs leaves a lot to be desired.

It is not until each community has a specific development strategy, which will be synchronized with the regional and state strategy (a very specific one, not “for all that’s good, against everything that’s bad”), that the government of any level will have an understanding of which projects should be implemented.

For example, there is the Belz Community, which in its Strategy indicated establishment of an international border checkpoint as an important factor of development. This is quite understandable, because there should be at least one border crossing point in Chervonohrad County, which is situated near the border.

However, the government has only recently announced development of the strategy of border infrastructure on the western border. This means that any plans of the Belz Community directly depend on the top government decisions.

This kind of desynchronization slows down the development of even rear areas.

Financial monitoring is another important point.

One of the most critical comments in this part was that ex ante control over the use of the funds is missing. Those are the procedures that need to be introduced by regional and local authorities, bodies of local self-government. This includes verification of potential contractors, their capacity to implement a certain project, and experience in the implementation of similar initiatives.

Therefore, the development of such procedures is something that can and should be worked on, and for which the business should also prepare.

So, what was left out of the European Commission’s report? The requests and wishes that Ukraine expressed earlier, in particular concerning a separate Program for the Carpathians – the development of the Carpathian macro-regional strategy.

These are the questions that should be put before the European Commission so that they are taken into account when Ukraine joins the European Union and in the next budget period. After all, it is not enough just to do the homework before the exam, it is also worth showing initiative during the study phase.

PHOTO: ROMAN BALUK/ASSOCIATED PRESS/EAST NEWS

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