EU Co-operation News. Newsletter of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine. 14 October, 2010

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1 EU-UKRAINE CO-OPERATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION The environment is one of the three pillars of sustainable development and is particular important for the poor, who are the more vulnerable to natural resource degradation, pollution and economical disasters. Environment is thus crucial for the overall objectives of cooperation, sustainable development and poverty reduction. This is especially relevant for the European Union s external policies and assistance programmes both in Ukraine and throughout the world. Despite considerable progress achieved in addressing the heavy environmental legacy of the past, Ukraine s environment still remains in a critical state. There is an urgent need for the integration of environmental considerations into basic policy and the improvement of energy efficiency in industrial, energy and agricultural sectors as well as to raise environmental awareness among consumers. The European Union is the leading donor to Ukraine in the environment sector. Since 1991 the EU has funded more the 80 projects worth more than 100 million. The EU currently provides assistance to the Ukrainian government to help it meet its commitments in the International Conventions of Espoo (environmental impact), Aarhus (public participation), Danube (protecting the Danube) and Ramsar (wetlands). The recently launched Twinning Project on environmental protection aims to improve the legal and methodological basis for ecological audit in the Ukraine and to improve the system for certification and accreditation of auditors, paving the way for future mutual recognition of auditor s certificates. The EU is also preparing a 35 million Sector Budget Support programme in Ukraine the financing agreement for which will be signed before the end of. EU LAUNCHES TWINNING PROJECT ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION On 13 October the EU-funded Twinning project Support to the Ministry for Environmental Protection of Ukraine for the Implementation of the Law on Ecological Audit held the launching conference in Kyiv. The event was opened by the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation Maria Jurikova and the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection Maksim Vakoulenko. The Ministry of Environmental Protection of Ukraine is the beneficiary of the project, and will be supported in the training and methodological activities by the State Ecological Academy. During 18 months of project implementation, experts from EU Member States (Austria, UK, Ireland, Czech Republic and Bulgaria) will share with Ukrainian colleagues their practical experience in implementing similar legislation at their home administrations. The project is implemented by the Environment Agency of Austria with the junior partner, the Czech Ministry of Environment. The project will improve legal and methodological basis for carrying out ecological audits in Ukraine; improve system of certification and accreditation of ecological auditors; and enhance professionalism and increase awareness of all parties involved in ecological audit, incl. NGOs. Contact person: Svetlana Anachkova, anachkova@hotmail.com

2 EU-FUNDED PROJECT NEWS EU-FUNDED PROGRAMME SUPPORTS CAPACITY DEVELOPING OF UKRAINIAN MINE ECOLOGISTS On September the EU-funded Coal Sector Policy Support Programme held in Donetsk Region a 3-day seminar and discussion on Approaches to the Application of Environmental Risk Management, Including Management of Methane Emissions. The event gathered 26 participants representing the Ministry of Coal Industry, Donetsk National Technical University, and mine ecologists. The event was aimed at developing the capacity of mine ecologists and facilitating a dialogue among themselves and also with the bodies that supervise them under the regulatory regime, in order to improve their performance in environmental management. This seminar was from a series of events, organised by the Programme, that focus on the critical situations as found in the mines of Ukrainian coal sector, and to conduct on-site assessment with the participation of ecologists; take forward the physical site assessments to the next stage; identify methods and means to undertake remediation where it is justified and discuss the potential of the application of suggested approaches. More information at: Contact person: Irina Chernysh, ichernysh@eu-coalsector.com.ua EU-FUNDED COAL PROGRAMME TRAINS STAKEHOLDERS OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND On 27 September-2 October the EU-funded Coal Sector Policy Support Programme organised in Yaremche, Ivano-Frankivsk a Training Programme on Training of Trainers for the Social Development Fund (SDF) Stakeholders. The six-day course involved 12 participants from four selected communities of a region where mine closure is expected. They were trained to plan and implement in the near future appropriate social mitigation measures in their communities. The concept of SDF has been developed in the framework of the project. It shall establish a light permanent structure on national level complemented with crises management units on local level in case of an announced mine closure (or any other mine restructuring action with negative impact on the respective community, including e.g. mine privatisation). In order to prepare people who could form such crises management units on local level, the project s expert held two training measures, one for the Eastern Mining Regions and one for the Western Mining Regions. More information at: Contact person: Irina Chernysh, ichernysh@eu-coalsector.com.ua

3 EUBAM HOSTS A SEMINAR ON FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION On 30 September the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) and the Odesa State Regional Administration hosted a seminar that aimed to help cut corruption in public authorities. The Head of the EU Border Assistance Mission Udo Burkholder took part, as well as experts from the Prosecutors office, Security Service of Ukraine, Odesa regional administrations and other areas. Corruption is a challenge that everyone in society has a role in fighting, said the Head of EUBAM. Today s seminar is but one in many positive factors in Ukraine that help to counter corruption and support good governance. First of all, Ukraine has the commitment and sincere political will to overcome it, he added. Topics covered included international experience in combating corruption in administration and local governments, anti-corruption measures taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding public servants of the state administration and self-government authorities of Odesa Region, anti-corruption measures taken by the Security Service of Ukraine regarding public servants of the state administration and self-government authorities of Odesa Region and other areas. More information at: Contact person: Maryna Reshetnyak, maryna.reshetnyak@eubam.org EU-FUNDED PROJECT HOLDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPETITION POLICY On 5-7 October the EU-funded project Harmonisation of Competition and Public Procurement Systems in Ukraine with EU standards held in Yalta a two-day international conference to discuss latest trends in competition policy and law enforcement practice. The event gathered more than 100 representatives of competition authorities, industrial regulators and legal professionals from Ukraine, CIS and EU Member States. The conference, entitled Modernisation of Competition Authorities: Setting Priorities for Law Enforcement and Competition Advocacy, provided professionals from 14 countries with an opportunity to share their views on legal and institutional aspects of competition protection systems in the EU and CIS countries. In particular, speakers from French, Austrian, Bulgarian, Estonian and Russian competition agencies highlighted the importance of competition advocacy for the achievement of enforcement objectives by the competition watchdogs in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The participants also addressed the issue of convergence of competition protection mechanisms, as well as the traderelated aspects of competition policy. In particular, introduction of state aid legislation in Ukraine, harmonisation of the national merger control, anti-cartel and public procurement rules with EU standards have been discussed as prerequisites for the successful implementation of a free trade regime between Ukraine and the EU. More information at: Contact person: Yuliya Pekaruk, y.pekaruk@competitionproject.org.ua

4 EU-FUNDED PROJECT SUPPORTS EU-UKRAINE RESEARCH CO-OPERATION IN THE ENERGY AREA On October the EU-funded project Joint Support Office for Enhancing Ukraine s Integration into the European Research Area (JSO- ERA) held in Ivano-Frankivsk an Information Day and a Workshop on new opportunities for the Ukrainian scientists and research organisations to participate in the EU 7th Framework Programme on Research and Technology Development (FP7). The two-day informational event was organised in co-operation with the National Information Centre for Ukraine-EU S&T Cooperation and Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. The objective of the event was to inform the scientific community of the region on new FP7 calls, announced by the European Commission in July, establish the contacts with the research institutions and assist the Ukrainian scientists, innovative SMEs and their partner research organisations to participate in FP7. More information at: Contact person: Tatiana Derevyankina, jso@jsoresearch.kiev.ua EUBAM ADVISORY BOARD REVIEWS ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE LAST FOUR MONTH On 11 October the EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) held the 15th meeting of the Advisory Board to review the Mission s achievements supporting the development of EU standards in border management with the Moldovan and Ukrainian border guard and customs services, law enforcement agencies and government institutions. The Advisory Board was chaired by the Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador José Manuel Pinto Teixeira. The Advisory Board took note of the EUBAM Activity Report from 1 June to 30 September and highlighted the good cooperation between EUBAM and the partner services in a number of areas, including: implementation of the Joint Customs Declaration; upgrading of information exchange; implementation of joint border control operations; common analytical work; capacity building; training programmes; and public communication. The Board drew attention to the success of the 7th Joint Border Control Operation TYRA that was completed on 15 September, particularly regarding the extent of the seizures that resulted from the Operation. The Board took note of the Mission s support to the implementation of the Integrated Border Management concept in Moldova and Ukraine, particularly the systematic involvement of EUBAM in the development of the Ukrainian and Moldovan Integrated Border Management strategies. More information at: Contact person: Maryna Reshetnyak, maryna.reshetnyak@eubam.org

5 EU, COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND OSCE DISCUSS THE SAFEGUARDS TO MEDIA PLURALISM IN UKRAINE On 13 October the EU-funded project Promotion of European Standards in the Ukrainian Media Environment held in Kyiv a conference on Safeguards to Media Pluralism in Ukraine. The event was opened by the Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador José Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the Head of the Department of Information Society of the Council of Europe Ivan Koedjikov, and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic. Ambassador Pinto Teixeira stated in his opening speech: The state of the media, their standards and level of freedom are one of the principal indicators of the democratic health of a society. And as reflected in recent statements by the EU, we are all aware that Ukrainian media face new challenges today which have an equally detrimental effect on the trustworthiness of information provided to the public. The participants of the conference discussed the European standards regarding media pluralism and practical measures to safeguard it, against the background of the situation in Ukraine. The event was attended by members of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council, the State TV and Radio Committee, the Anti-monopoly Committee, broadcasters associations, media NGOs as well as by broadcast media managers. Contact person: Olga Sedova, olga.sedova@coe.int EU-FUNDED PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENTS 20 OCTOBER, ROMNY Final Conference of the EU-funded project Sustainable Local Development Contact person: Svetlana Timshina, svetlana.timshina@sld.org.ua OCTOBER, INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, KYIV 3rd INTERACT ENPI Annual Conference for all the ENPI CBC programmes More information at: Contact person: Dzmitry Korbut, dzmitry.korbut@interact-eu.net 21 OCTOBER, KYIV Workshop on Sector Budget Support a new form of EU Assistance to Ukraine of the EU-funded project Complementary Technical Assistance to the EU Funded Budget Support to Ukraine s Energy Strategy Implementation More information at: Contact person: Maryna Shvyhar, maryna.shvyhar@esbs.kiev.ua OCTOBER, CHERKASSY International Conference in the framework of the EU-funded project Energy Efficiency in Urban Development Planning Contact person: Serhiy Kornienko, translate@cci.neocm.com 25 OCTOBER, HOTEL VOZDVYZHENSKY, KYIV Eastern Partnership Culture Programme Information Day Slava Gromlyuk, slava.gromlyuk@public-admin.co.uk OCTOBER, KYIV Regional Eastern Partnership Seminar on European integration and the Jean Monnet programme Contact person: Ludmila Magkaeva, ludmila@cecoforma.be 29 OCTOBER, TAURIDA UNIVERSITY, SIMFEROPOL Tempus Information Day More information at: Contact person: Zhanna Talanova, tempus@ilid.org.ua This newsletter is produced in the framework of the project PR Support for EC Assistance and Co-operation Programmes in Ukraine. The project is funded by the European Union and implemented by the KEY Communications Agency. Contact person: Sergiy Zamar, zamari@keycommunications.ua