June 20, 2013, Kyiv — At a UNIAN news conference, civil society experts presented findings of the monitoring of how Ukraine fulfilled the environmental component of its bilateral cooperation with the EU in 2012. The news conference was given by two project co-coordinators, Resource and Analytical Center "Society and Environment" Head of the Board Nataliya Andrusevych and MAMA-86 Executive Director Zoriana Mishchuk, who is also a coordinator of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Civil Society Forum (CSF) National Platform's Working Group 3, as well as European ECO Forum expert Serhiy Vykhryst.

According to the experts, Ukraine has not progressed too much on this way. Taking into account the top-priority character of Ukraine 's European integration course, Ukrainian governmental authorities must have been more effectively implementing environmental reforms up to European standards. Recommendations to the Verkhovna Rada and relevant central executive agencies on how to improve the situation were set forth in an analytical paper of EaP CSF Working Group 3 produced under the project "Assessment of the Environmental Component of the EU-Ukraine Bilateral Cooperation" with support from the International Renaissance Foundation.

Assessment of the realization of environmental priorities set up by the Ukraine-EU Association Agenda for the years 2011–2012 covered the implementation of the National Strategy of Environmental Policy, the National Environmental Action Plan, and legislation on access to environmental information, public participation, and environmental impact assessment, as well as a number of international conventions and protocols. On the average, these priorities had been realized at 49.7 percent, according to the assessment. Ukraine 's performance on the EaP Roadmap received higher marks from the Working Group's experts, at 79 percent, as a result of the active preparations for adaptation of environmental legislation and the implementation of a number of EU environmental projects.

Ms. Andrusevych cited the main reasons for the fairly low assessment of how Ukraine meets its environmental commitments. These are the lack of priorities attached to environmental issues in the Ukrainian state policy, the absence of a holistic approach to realization of environmental commitments within bilateral relations, the poor implementation of environmental legislation, plans, programs, strategies and international acts, and the weak institutional approach to priorities realization.

Ms. Mishchuk pointed out the ambiguous character of Ukraine 's European environmental integration progress. On the one hand, a significant step forward was made by adopting the Basic Plan for environmental legislation adaptation. On the other hand, quite a few of activities under the National Action Plan have never been carried out. One of reasons for that, according to Ms. Mishchuk, is that the EU blocked the Sector Budget Support funds earmarked for the Government of Ukraine because Ukraine had failed to meet the EU public finance management requirements. However, she said that the main cause for the environmental European integration reforms to crawl is that the state considers them as minor issues falling within the competence of only the environmental ministry, whereas in the EU the responsibility for environment is born at all levels of power and in all sectors – industry, energy, transport, education, and others. To correct the situation, Ukraine needs to adopt legislation that will introduce rules of the European all-round directives, in particular those on environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment, public participation in environment-related decision-making, and such.

Governmental agencies of Ukraine should pay attention to the environmental protection problems identified by the experts and take necessary measures to ensure Ukraine's effective preparation for the signing of the Association Agreement. The experts set forth their recommendations on how it can be done in their monitoring report, and more briefly, in the analytical paper backed by Working Group 3 "Environment, Climate Change and Energy Security" of the EaP CSF National Platform.

The documents contain recommendations for the Verkhovna Rada, Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, and other central executive agencies (Foreign Ministry, Justice Ministry, etc.) specifying – subject to their competences and functions – measures to be taken to form favorable conditions for realization of the environmental component of Ukraine's bilateral relations with the EU.

According to Mr. Vykhryst, when drafting a new environmental legislation of Ukraine , a special attention must be paid to conformity of this legislation with EU standards, taking into account that the future EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in the sector of environment is focusing on the adaptation issues.

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The project "Assessment of the Environmental Component of the EU-Ukraine Bilateral Cooperation" is implemented by the Resource and Analytical Center "Society and Environment" within the framework of Working Group 3 of the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with support from the International Renaissance Foundation. The project aims at attaching a higher priority to environmental protection issues in the EU-Ukraine bilateral relations.

The Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership is a platform for nongovernmental organizations from six Eastern Partnership countries, EU member states, and international networks. The CSF was established to involve civil society in the development, implementation, and assessment of the EaP. Activities within the framework of the CSF Ukrainian National Platform include operation of theme-based Working Groups, such as Working Group 3, "Environment, Climate Change and Energy Security."