Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna
Part of UK in Ukraine
19th December 2011
How the EU helps Ukraine: an example
Everyone knows that one of the benefits of Ukraine’s potential integration with the EU is that the EU will help Ukraine to adapt the quality of its administration to EU standards. In other words, the EU will help Ukraine to become a more EU-type country.
But how does that work in practice?
One of the many mechanisms which exists to help countries integrating with the EU is what is called “Twinning”. This means experienced national organisations from EU member states get together and bid competitively to be granted the right to help develop government agencies and structures in countries which wish to integrate with the EU. The successful bidders are then funded by the European Union to carry out the work. It sounds complicated and technical; and indeed it is. But it is from this type of detailed, nuts-and-bolts cooperation, repeated on a grand scale, that whole countries can be helped to move towards EU standards.
For an example of such a project, see this report about a recently-announced twinning project worth €1.5 million over the next two years to be implemented by institutions from the UK and Germany on “Further Development of National Accreditation Agency of Ukraine capacities according to European practices”.
Expect to see a lot more of assistance of this type if Ukraine’s integration with the EU proceeds smoothly over the months and years ahead. Today’s EU-Ukraine summit may give some indication of how quickly such integration is likely to take place.
I can’t believe our authorities are doing this to us. We are ordinary people and there is obviously not a lot we can do to change the situation. There have been strikes and protests, haven’t there? There was a whole revolution in 2004. Is there anything else ordinary people can do? I have close family in England and EU integration would mean a lot personally to me, I would do my best to fulfill EU’s requirements to be able to live in a freer country with less borders between me and the people I love. Thus far me and the like have no other choice but to hope this will change after the election.
The UK should now stop helping Ukraine until they make improvements in the rule of law as requested yesterday by the EU. Both the UK and the EU should stop wasting tax payers money in Ukraine.
Great job indeed _ hope Ukraine will pay back one day.