Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU took part in online conference “Ukraine in Washington and Beyond: Powering Partnerships Through Innovations and Start-Ups”. This conference has been held annually since 2011 with the assistance of the American-Ukrainian Foundation, a non-for-profit organization that supports democracy, free market economy, and human rights in Ukraine, as well as American-Ukrainian relations.

The participants of the conference discussed the threats of climate change, as well as how Ukraine can best meet the challenges of climate change in the coming decades.

The Chair of the Committee noted that the energy sector of Ukraine had been the subject of attacks in various forms for many years. After the Revolution of Dignity, according to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine has finally started working on ensuring true energy independence: “After the Revolution of Dignity, we ratified the Association Agreement with the EU, an important part of which is the energy sector. Moreover, we managed to renew our commitments under the Agreement in the energy sector by mid-summer 2019 (Annex XXVII to the Agreement), and for the first time we received a legal promise from the EU that if we fulfil our commitments, the EU will take action in terms of integration of the Ukrainian energy sector into the EU energy markets”. At the same time, today this process, according to the Chair of the Committee, does not look that optimistic: “Over the past few years, we are moving one step forward and two steps back. During this time, we have already changed 4 energy ministers, which does not allow for systematic work in this direction. Moreover, the main task in this area — to integrate into the European continental grid ENTSO-E is at an early stage of implementation, despite the fact that Parliament has finally done its job and the laws allow it to do this. We understand that many technical and political decisions still need to be made, including political will. And, obviously, it depends not only on the decisions that will be made in the EU, but, first of all, on the decisions and actions within Ukraine”.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze also noted that the constant change of rules and regulatory policy in Ukraine does not add confidence to our partners, in particular, in the field of renewable energy, gas market and electricity. In order to preserve energy and not only energy independence, Ukraine shall stop trying to return to the practices it has managed to abandon: “The authorities import electricity from Russia and Belarus. This is not in line with our intentions to integrate into the European electricity grid. If this is not stopped, Russia will use it as another lever of influence on Ukraine. Another threat is to buy gas from Russia again, which we have not done for more than 7 years. We bought reverse gas through our partners from the EU”, — Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

The Chair of the Committee noted that Ukraine had a common interest with the United States — to do everything possible to ensure that the construction of the “Nord Stream-2” gas pipeline was not completed: “The US national interest completely coincides with the Ukrainian national interest. We will be naked in the face of the Russian Federation and the possible escalation of its aggression and full-scale attack on Ukraine if “Nord Stream-2” is completed and Ukraine loses gas transit from Russia to the EU”. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is also convinced that the current dialogue between Ukraine and the United States lacks sincerity and openness. “Trust is very difficult to build, but very easy to destroy. And when we see in various areas — in the energy sector, in anti-corruption reform, in judicial reform, that the necessary efforts are not made to accomplish crucial tasks — it undermines trust. The current authorities should be much clearer in formulating its goals and transparent in achieving them”, — the Committee Chair concluded.