Stefanishyna: Government together with EU to form new vision of Ukraine’s green transformation

The Government of Ukraine and the European Commission will join forces to form a new vision of Ukraine's "green" agenda.

This was discussed during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna and Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans, Ukrinform reports with reference to the Government portal.

As noted, the parties discussed plans for Ukraine’s restoration and reconstruction. In particular, Timmermans noted that the EU would pay considerable attention to EU climate and environmental policies and standards in the process of reconstruction, and stressed the readiness of the European Union to provide Ukraine with comprehensive support. In turn, Stefanishyna stressed that it was important to start working together to develop an appropriate vision and a mechanism of “green” recovery without delay.

“It is important for us to continue to be an active partner of the EU in achieving the global goal of climate neutrality. Given the scale of destruction inside the country, we need to rethink our entire ‘green’ agenda and jointly form a new vision of the policy of ‘green’ transformation of Ukraine,” she said.

The Deputy PM also underlined the need to attract additional instruments, in particular financial ones, from the EU, which would help Ukraine to undertake such transformations as soon as possible, even before the start of the post-war reconstruction process.

“Business remains a key player in the ‘green’ transformation of Ukraine. Therefore, it is important to form a common understanding with the business community on the way forward. Unfortunately, today Ukrainian business is fighting for survival and needs support. The updated vision of Ukraine’s ‘green’ agenda will also help us in preparing for the negotiations on EU membership, given the large amount of legislation that Ukraine has to implement,” Stefanishyna said.

At the end of the meeting, Olha Stefanishyna thanked Frans Timmermans for his support of Ukraine, in particular for his personal active position and efforts to toughen the EU sanctions pressure on Russia.

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