Brussels, 20 April 2022
11th EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform Meeting
On the 20th of April, representatives of EaP CSF Rostislav Dzundza from the Coalition of the HIV Service Organisations and Tamara Malkova from ICO Information Center “Green Dossier” took part in the 11th EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform meeting.
During the 11th EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform meeting, participants discussed the war in Ukraine and its impacts.
Dorota Dlouchy-Suliga, Deputy Head of Division at EEAS, highlighted the unity of the EU’s response to the war in Ukraine. One of the main priorities for the EEAS is the recording and tracing of missing people, including coordinating and sharing of information with the Ukrainian prosecutor. She also insisted that it is essential to maintain the bilateral agenda.
Alexander Shubin, CSP Co-Chair, who represented the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, underlined that the war in Ukraine has irrevocably killed the Soviet past in the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people, appealing to the EU to grant Ukraine EU membership.
Nataliya Forsyuk, Director General of the Ukrainian Government Office on European Integration and NATO, underlined that over 90% of Ukrainians support integration with the EU.
She also mentioned that Ukraine would need assistance in building the cyber-resilience of the state, a second tranche of 600 million EUR to micro-finance programmes, the creation of a joint mobile roaming network for Ukraine and the EU, and the integration of Ukrainian and EU payment systems.
DG ECHO has spent almost 150 million Euros, some of which also went to Moldova to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainians. For the first time in history, all 27 member states plus Norway and Turkey have delivered goods through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
George Ziegler, who represented the European Commission, has underlined that EU is working hard to prepare the quickest ‘avis’ in its history in response to the first part of answers to the EU questionnaire consisting of 1250 pages that were sent by Ukraine in just one week.
During the meeting, there were many suggestions for future events to take place in Ukraine as soon as it is safe to do so. At the EU level, it is crucial to keep up the measures that provide direct support to rebuild the country and help its people.
Available for download
Joint Declaration – 11th EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform meeting