The Directorate-General of the European Commission responsible for questions related to the European Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Europe was recently headed by Markus Cornaro. The main goal of the Directorate, also called EuropeAid, is to deliver financial aid to EU neighboring countries, including Ukraine. Cornaro recently visited Ukraine to establish work contacts and discuss questions concerning the EU’s aid delivery to Ukraine.
How does Brussels assess the effectiveness and usefulness of Ukraine’s aid programs? Which programs will be priority ones? How much money does the EU plan to allot to Ukraine? These and other questions are raised in The Day’s exclusive interview with the head of the Directorate-General of EuropeAid.
Mr. Cornaro, you were recently appointed to head the Directorate-General of the European Commission on questions related to the European Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Europe. Usually before starting work, one has to assess and take stock of everything that has been done to date. Has this work been done by the Directorate and has it been assessed how efficiently Ukraine used the aid provided by the European Union?
“This is a wonderful question. Yes, really, we have taken stock of all the aid programs together with Ukraine. I must say this was a rather ambitious task. We assessed a whole number of projects that had been financed in Ukraine within the framework of EU aid. The work that was done is really impressive. Fortunately, many projects and aspects of activity have been considered with the help of external assessment. And one of the conclusions that we have reached is that many small programs of technical aid were very useful in the first stages of state administration reform. And I think that they have outlived their usefulness. That is why we have to think about the future and unite our aid and be more focused on the crucial sector problems that are in the Ukraine- EU Action Plan.”
Can you name Brussels’s priorities in delivering aid?
“In general, I can say this: everything that helps Ukraine get closer to the EU is important. We have a sitemap within the framework of the Ukraine-EU Action Plan where a number of sectors are marked, which in my opinion deserve massive and coordinated support from the European Commission, both with the application of technical aid and Ukraine’s budget support aimed at encouraging other means and adding ‘oxygen,’ in the sense of management, so that reforms are efficiently implemented. One can add Ukraine’s membership in the WTO here. Europe is a passionate adherent of such a process. I will be more than happy if our current and future aid favors Ukraine’s full integration in the international market. I think that this will coincide with Ukraine’s entry into the WTO and simultaneously will support the country’s development in the long run. I consider that the third aspect will be the fact that Ukraine benefits from all the other new instruments that we are implementing within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy. Here the thing is trans-border cooperation, and for this aim we will have to raise funds for the border regions of the EU countries and unite them in order to secure activity on the Ukrainian border. From the geographical point of view, it is clear that Ukraine is the best place to benefit from this new instrument.”
What did you feel from the Ukrainian side? What kind of aid does Ukraine want to receive from the European Union?
“During this visit I did not have any plans to identify aid programs. This was rather a familiarization mission. I wanted to become familiarized on a wider scale with our key partners, representatives of the EU members in Ukraine, their thoughts and positions. I can confirm that we recently allotted the EU aid budget for Ukraine for 2007, which is 140 million euros. Two-thirds will go to the energy sector. A large part of t his aid is reserved for the implementation of the agreement on readmission and solving migration problems. The last segment is assigned for financing the ‘twin’ projects between the Ukrainian state administration authorities in the key sectors and the competent sectors of EU members. All this refers to 2007. As for 2008, we have to discuss this during the coming weeks and months. And now we are giving time to Ukraine to form the government, and afterwards we will discuss in detail these plans with the new government.”
You probably know that Ukraine is not completely satisfied with the European Neighborhood Policy. Some Ukrainian diplomats and experts insist that this policy places Ukraine on the same level as African countries. Do you think the European Union will be able to convince the Ukrainian government to make efficient and full use of the new instruments offered by the European policy of neighborhood and partnership?
“I hope so. In my opinion, the reforms and cooperation offered make sense in themselves. Moreover, it is our ambition that these instruments will be used in the coming years and will promote Ukraine’s development. I think there are many issues in pragmatic spheres connected with vital reforms to be implemented in Ukraine. I am not afraid that a broad unfinished agenda can be in any way harmful to the efficiency of the European Neighborhood Policy instruments.”
But some Ukrainian experts are afraid that after the EU- Ukraine agreement on readmission comes into force, Kyiv will end up in a difficult situation. Ukraine will have to spend big money to keep those illegal migrants that tried to get into the EU and were detained at the Ukrainian border.
“I don’t think so. I didn’t discuss this issue during my visit, and these kinds of fears were not expressed during the meetings with the Ukrainian partners. Ukraine and the EU signed the agreement after the negotiations. In my opinion, the agreement is beneficial for Ukraine, which is interested in having legal access to the EU. And if legal access for people who want to do business with Europe is regulated, you will have to have mechanisms to struggle against illegal migrants who want to get to Europe but have to be repatriated according to the agreed rules. I feel that we have good relations, and I can say with satisfaction that the EU allotted money in 2007 to implement programs aimed at building facilities, acquiring software, and training, which are a confirmation of this policy.”
Some experts say that 90 percent of the aid that is given to Ukraine by the European Union in fact returns through contractors from European countries or is paid to European experts, and the remaining 10 percent are paid to Ukrainian experts. Will this imbalance be corrected for Ukraine’s benefit?
“I’m glad you asked this question. At the same time I want to explain to the readers of your newspaper that this is truly one of the reasons why we are thinking about better ways of organizing the EU’s future aid to Ukraine. A significant part of our aid will be aimed at identifying sectors and programs for their reform and coming to an agreement about a package of reforming specific sectors, not development by means of EU technical aid. Money will thus be given to Ukraine so that the Ukrainian authorities can implement the reforms.”
We have a saying: money does not buy happiness. Do you think that the EU can deliver aid to Ukraine by other means besides giving money?
“I think that the EU aid present in Ukraine is much broader than the one delivered by the European Commission by means of different funds. There is a whole sphere of commercial contacts that overstep the limits of EU financial projects. And this is valuable by itself. I hope this will be promoted by Ukraine’s entry into the WTO and the EU free trade area, an agreement we plan to reach after Ukraine joins the WTO. All this is very important and is probably a supplementary element that will promote the country’s development. We are also trying to support student exchanges. In my opinion, this is a very interesting sphere. There is a program called Erasmus Mundus, which was originally aimed at students in the EU. I am satisfied that we can rather generously broaden this program in Ukraine. Nearly 1,000 places will be open for Ukrainians, who will be able to take part-time or full-time courses in Europe. I think this will assist in developing mutual understanding. Ukrainians will be able to enrich their experience by receiving an education and living in Europe and applying it in Ukraine.”
Will future aid programs include the promotion of medium and small businesses in Ukraine?
“There have been many schemes of delivering aid for establishing Ukrainian companies. We have also assisted banks. But I am not sure that great importance will be drawn to this direction in the future. Ideally, we would like this to be done autonomously through the regulatory system and the bank sector. Our main responsibility will be only to guarantee access to the European market for medium and small companies. For example, we have created a very useful database of access to the European market. Even an owner of a small company can search the Internet at the end of the working day and have direct access to European companies’ contacts. In my opinion, this is the best thing we can offer.”
Will there be any connection between the progress with which Ukraine implements reforms and the size of aid provided by the EU?
“Obviously, there is a connection between Ukraine’s ambitions to implement reforms and, on our side, financing these reforms. But in general there is no direct connection between the size of aid given by the EU and the rate of reform implementation in Ukraine. We think that reforms in your country will be long-term. Nothing can be done in a month or a year. I think that to a large extent the strategy of development and efficiency of aid will be considered in the long run. We, at least, have indicatively allotted money to the EU up to 2010. But these are indicative indices, and they will depend on our level of satisfaction with the usefulness and efficiency of using the money allotted for assisting Ukraine.”
