Contributing to the recovery of Ukraine is one of the priorities of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region since 2022. Today, there are several initiatives regarding immediate support, sustainable rebuilding, and the road towards a full EU partnership.
- 20 December 2023
Reconstructing Ukraine with EU membership in mind
The EU membership comes with several requirements related to environmental standards and practices. Preparations should be made to support Ukraine effectively during the war and to have cooperation structures in place when rebuilding begins. It is important to note that Ukraine's reconstruction efforts should not solely focus on existing standards but also consider future developments.
A part of Ukraine around the city of Lviv belongs to the catchment area of the Baltic Sea through the Vistula River, which makes collaboration very relevant when it comes to wastewater treatment, nutrient flows, hazardous substances and bioeconomy just to name a few examples. EUSBSR Policy Areas Nutri, Hazards, Ship and Bioeconomy have joined forces to establish partnerships to address these topics.
Ukraine is encouraged to participate as an observer in Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) working group meetings. This participation would enable Ukraine to monitor progress in the Baltic Sea Region and potentially identify more efficient cooperation partners for projects that could contribute to Ukraine's reconstruction.
The environmental challenges are tiny in comparison to many of the other challenges Ukraine is facing
Launched in September 2023, Policy Areas Education and Secure initiated the project “Civil Protection Faculty” which now supports a Ukrainian non-formal education initiative, the 'Vovchok' school, in establishing non-formal education for the training of fire fighters in emergency medicine and other capacities needed in Ukraine. Furthermore, PA Education has actively cooperated with Ukrainian partners and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region in the field of education, labour market and marginalised communities in the Danube Region, including Ukraine.
The profound impacts of the war have realigned transport priorities from an East-West to a North-South orientation. Over the summer, the European Commission released a document called Strategy for the EU integration of the Ukrainian and Moldovan rail systems. The importance of this document to the EUSBSR cannot be overstated, as the integration of transport corridors connecting the Baltic Sea Region with third countries is among the primary priorities of Policy Area Transport. The integration of two different railway systems has a high relevance as existing transport corridors via Russia and Belarus do not function anymore and new alternative routes are not technically advanced as needed.
More information
Related articles on the Strategy’s website, elaborating the collaboration initiatives with Ukrainian stakeholders
- Water Associations from Sweden, Poland, and Ukraine Join Forces to Address Urgent Water Management Challenges
- Strengthening and developing cooperation with Ukraine to empower sustainable rebuilding
- Empowering Sustainable Rebuilding in Ukraine: Insights from PA Ship roundtable discussion
- PA Transport Discuss the Future of Baltic Sea Region Transport at Scandria Alliance and CPMR Baltic Sea Commission Joint Conference
- Seminar for Ukrainian and Baltic Sea Region authorities on wastewater treatment standards and legal frames in the EU
- Civil Protection Faculty