19 January 2021, 08:26
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze: “We need an honest conversation to balance our goals with the challenges of joining the European Green Deal”
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's
Integration into the EU, took part in a meeting of the
interdepartmental working group on coordination of climate change in
the framework of the European Commission's European Green Deal
initiative.
Almost a year ago, at a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council,
our country and the European Union agreed to develop cooperation taking
into account the European Green Deal, which provides for the
transformation of Europe into a climate-neutral continent by 2050. The
parties agreed to cooperate on decarbonisation and environmental
protection, and stressed the need to develop strategies to implement
them under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. These issues were
further discussed during the Ukraine-EU Summit in October 2020, as one
of the priority areas of cooperation.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that a huge number of very ambitious
goals and separate strategies of the ministries had been announced, but
a single coordinated strategy in this direction had not been developed
yet. “Today we hear great ideas and strategies of various ministries,
but so far there is no clear common position of the Cabinet of
Ministers”, - she said.
The Chairman of the Committee noted that in order for all these
ambitious goals to be realized, in particular, on climate neutrality by
2050, coordinated action of both different ministries and the
Government was needed. “I hope that a common, unified position of the
ministries will be worked out, and this will be translated into the
position of the Government and will give us an opportunity to conduct a
substantive dialogue of the Verkhovna Rada and government officials. As
the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, we will be ready to
become an additional platform for agreeing positions in the Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine”, - Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said.
She also called for maximum consideration and use of the potential of
MPs to interact with European countries and the European Parliament,
which plays a major role in shaping the European Green Deal and has
repeatedly helped to prioritize issues important to Ukraine on the
European Union agenda.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze also reminded of the need to use existing
European integration instruments, in particular, the updated Annex
XXVII to the Association Agreement, which requires coordination of
actions with the EU in the energy sector. “The application of this
Annex should become a litmus test of how we can really use the existing
tools of European integration. And updating of the Agreement in 2021
makes it possible to take into account our goals and ambitions for the
European Green Deal and implement them in cooperation between
government officials and parliamentarians, as well as in our joint
dialogue with European partners”, — the Committee chairwoman concluded.