The joint statement following the 23rd Ukraine-EU Summit recognizes the importance of further strengthening cooperation in countering hybrid threats and tackling disinformation.
According to the text of the statement published on the website of the President’s Office of Ukraine, the EU will continue to support Ukraine’s resilience, including through the strengthening of independent media and the regulatory environment, as well as sharing best practices on media freedom and literacy, strategic communications and supporting Ukrainian initiatives to tackle disinformation.
“We underlined the important role played by civil society, youth and independent media in all areas of public and political life, also in the context of disinformation campaigns against the EU and Ukraine, including notably by Russia,” the officials said in the joint statement.
The holding of the first cyber dialogue between Ukraine and the EU on June 3, 2021 is also encouraged, and the next round is expected in the second quarter of 2022.
“We emphasized the importance of deepening inter-institutional cooperation on cybersecurity,” according to the statement.
In the key areas in which trade between Ukraine and the EU takes place, the country meets 70-80% European standards, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna said in an interview with the online edition of Radio Liberty on Saturday.
“In the five main areas in which trade takes place, we meet European standards by 70-80%. This has already been confirmed. Energy sector – 80%. Food and sanitary measures – more than 70%. We fully comply with the system of public procurement and telecommunications. This is means that in the understanding of our European integration, we [Ukraine and the EU] work in the same way and live the same,” Stefanishyna said.
She also said that more than 14,000 Ukrainian companies are already operating in the European market.
Ukraine is also the country that is integrated into European structures. The country is a member of more than 20 EU agencies and institutions from law enforcement (this is the European Public Prosecutor’s Office), ending with scientific and cultural programs.
Therefore, according to Stefanishyna, from the point of view of political, economic convergence, Ukraine has actually achieved tremendous results in five years.
Adoption of the law on the timber market, allowing the export of unprocessed timber and sawn timber from Ukraine, is forecasted until the end of this year, its entry into force does not pose significant threats to the country’s forest resources and related businesses, Head of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine Yuriy Bolokhovets has said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“I predict that the law on the timber market will be adopted by the end of the year. I do not see any major threats either from the point of view of preserving the forest fund, or from the point of view of protecting and supporting Ukrainian business. We are already working at European prices, there are precedents for the import of raw materials from the EU countries. Therefore, we do not expect rush demand from exporters or foreign players,” the head of the agency said.
According to him, the Ukrainian timber market was interesting for foreign players, while significant volumes of cheap illegally logged timber were present there, but those times have already passed.
Bolokhovets also said that due to the possible lifting of the moratorium on the export of unprocessed timber, Ukrainian processors should think about developing their business and strengthening competitiveness.
“Today, the majority is engaged in trivial sawing of timber. It is necessary to deepen processing, increase the added value of products,” the head of the State Forest Resources Agency said.
Shifting the burden of financing decarbonization onto taxpayers would be wrong, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Ukraine Matti Maasikas expressed this position at the discussion titled “Decarbonization. What is the Ukrainian way?”
“The polluter must pay. The authorities must work more boldly with this,” the ambassador said.
According to him, the payment for CO2 emissions is EUR 0,15 per tonne in Ukraine, while over EUR 50 in the EU.
First Deputy CEO of Interpipe Denys Morozov said that business is ready to invest in decarbonization, but with the support of the government, these efforts will have a greater effect. Morozov said the company made the largest environmental investment of about $1 billion without government support ten years ago, when no one spoke about Green Deal, having built an innovative electric steel-smelting complex Interpipe Steel instead of the environmentally dirty open-hearth production and reducing CO2 emissions by ten times.
According to him, Interpipe, which exports 85% of its products, is increasingly receiving requests for environmental audits from its customers, and now the company is completing the development of a long-term Decarbonization Strategy.
“Despite the presence of a modern metallurgical plant that meets all EU environmental standards, we still need support from the government. First of all, it concerns the availability of scrap metal, which is a critical raw material for decarbonization,” Morozov said. He called for leaving all scrap in Ukraine, since without it the country will not be able to decarbonize metallurgy and achieve the goals of the Green Deal.
The second problem, he called the lack of sufficient industrial access to cheap low-carbon and “green” electricity, in particular, nuclear power plants.
DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk said the main requirement for the state is predictability.
“Long-term investments need a stable environment […]. We are ready to pay, but we need trust [in the actions of the authorities] and stability,” he said.
According to Sakharuk, the reduction of feed-in tariffs resulted in almost 1 GW of green electricity not being generated in 2021 and an additional 2 million tonnes of CO2 will be emitted.
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said it is important for business to get a strategy and the government is working on its own Ukrainian Green Deal.
She said there is a clear understanding of the need for financial resources for such a green transition, and this is also one of the government’s priorities.
According to Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Roman Abramovsky, Ukraine has already managed to agree on the idea of a Ukrainian Climate Fund, similar to the Energy Efficiency Fund, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and by the end of September such an agreement can be completed with the World Bank.
According to Morozov and Sakharuk, one of the directions for using the fund’s resources could be compensation for interest rates, since in Ukraine they are significantly higher than in Europe. As the head of the Ecology Ministry said, it is possible.
The price of the nearest futures contract on the Dutch TTF spot index for ICE Futures, for October, continued to grow on Monday, assuming the value of 49.26 euros per kWh or $600 per thousand cubic meters, according to the exchange’s data.
Trading on Friday finished up at the value of $586 per thousand cubic meters.
The new gas year begins from October. Gazprom has a long-term reservation of transit capacities through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline until the end of September. The Russian company did not book capacities of the pipeline at past annual and quarterly auctions.
The launch of the almost completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is expected toward the end of this year. Issues concerning regulation of the pipeline’s operation are currently under consideration of the relevant controlling bodies.
In order to become a full member of the European Union, Ukraine will have to work hard for 20 years, said Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.
In an interview with European Truth, the politician stated that neither Ukraine, nor Georgia, nor Moldova still meet the requirements for membership in the European Union.
“The EU has many conditions. And frankly speaking, none of these countries is ready to fulfill the EU criteria. So, it will be 20 years, maybe, to work before you get there. All these countries have problems with independent justice systems. Therefore, you don’t qualify for European membership,” Kaljulaid said, adding that some “intermediate cooperation format” could help these states on the way to European integration.
The Estonian President also noted that the EU should have been somewhat more courageous in expanding its borders, in particular, the Union could offer Kyiv, Tbilisi and Chisinau either a new format of work for countries that have ambitions to join the EU, or full membership, however it will take “a lot of time”.
In addition, answering a question about joining NATO, Kaljulaid noted that Ukraine would not be able to become a full member of the Alliance until it regains control of all the occupied territories.
“Estonia is a strong proponent of MAP and for Ukraine to work closely with NATO, but we don’t know exactly when we will arrive at this end. We need to wait for some time for the history to turn,” she stressed.
She also expressed hope for a peaceful solution to the issue of de-occupation of Ukrainian territory.
