Regional cooperation between Ukraine and the EU

Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU in the field of regional development currently focuses on the following areas:

• Implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding to establish a dialogue in the field of regional policy;
• Establishing cooperation between representatives of local and regional authorities of Ukraine and the EU within the Committee of the Regions of the EU (CD);
• Implementation of the EU Joint Initiative on Crimea (suspended at the request of the Ukrainian side);
• Implementation of projects at the regional level through EU financial instruments (European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument) and EU financial institutions (European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development);
• Participation in the implementation of the Eastern Partnership Regional Development Pilot Program (EDP);
• Participation in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (Danube Strategy);
• Involvement of the regions of Ukraine in the activities of European regional associations, in particular the Assembly of European Regions, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies, Association of European Border Regions, Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, Conference of Presidents of Regions with legislative power, European Association of Local Governments Association of elected representatives from Mountain Areas) and European Cities (EUROCITIES).

Cooperation within the EU Committee of the Regions. In order to strengthen cooperation between the EU regions and the regions of the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP), in May 2011 the Political Bureau of the EU Committee of the Regions (EC) decided to establish a Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership - CORLEAP).

The inaugural meeting of CORLEAP took place on September 8-9, 2011 in Poznan (Poland). CORLEAP consists of 36 representatives (18 representatives of the EU CD and 18 representatives of local and regional authorities of the EaP countries: 3 representatives from each of the 6 EaP countries, including 3 representatives from Ukraine).

The Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils is responsible for maintaining practical cooperation between Ukraine and CORLEAP.

In addition, the EU CD promotes the implementation of various regional cooperation programs aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of representatives of the regions of neighboring countries. Such support is provided through various exchanges, trainings, study visits, seminars initiated by members of the Kyrgyz Republic or regional offices of EU member states in Brussels.

At the same time, the EU CD ensures the dissemination of information on the socio-economic potential of the regions of the Eastern European countries in Brussels (through appropriate presentations).

Since 2011, presentations of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions have been held in the EU CD.

The European Open Days are held annually, which is one of the largest annual public events of a regional scale in the EU.

The EU Joint Initiative on Crimea was officially launched in February 2009. The initiative was joined by relevant EU institutions, as well as individual EU member states - Britain, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

Under the Initiative, the EU side provided assistance in the following areas:

• development of municipal infrastructure;
• environmental protection;
• development of municipal infrastructure;
• improving the administrative capacity of local communities and local authorities;
• urban renewal, economic development;
• gender equality;
• environmental protection;
• development of civil society and private;
• local government;
• increase of energy efficiency of Sevastopol. On February 9, 2011, the Crimean Regional Development Agency was established, which carried out general coordination of project activities in Crimea.

Due to the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the implementation of this project at the initiative of the Ukrainian side was suspended in April 2014, and a proposal was sent to the European Commission to study the possibility of directing unused funds to implement similar measures outside the ARC, including Kherson, Odessa and Mykolayiv regions.

Implementation of projects in the field of regional development at the expense of EU financial instruments. EU financial assistance in this context is provided to Ukraine through the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) for 2007-2013, the implementation period of which has been extended.

Ukraine has access to three ENPI cross-border cooperation programs: Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine (€ 68.6 million budget), Ukraine-Poland-Belarus budget (€ 186.2 million) .), "Ukraine-Romania-Moldova" (budget 126, 7 million euros), "Black Sea" (budget 21, 3 million euros).

These PPPs cover Volyn, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil and Chernivtsi regions of Ukraine, as well as the ARC.