The discussion of priorities of communication on European integration topics and the relevant toolkit became the topic of the event organized at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Viktoria Lobun, adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic integration, shared what is being done in this direction at the government level.
Currently, the main task for the Cabinet of Ministers is the approval of the updated State Strategy for Regional Development for 2021-2027. “We don’t have a very good record in terms of regional politics, so we need to work on it,” she explained.
Victoria Lobun said that government officials travel to the regions and try to talk about the possibilities of European integration, the expectations associated with this, to see if there is any understanding of what needs to be done.
“There is more understanding in some regions, and a little less – in others. It happens that the region considers the EU integration as something far from them, abstract, political. We try to explain it as well. When there is such a desire and understanding to cooperate, then it is really possible to achieve good results even now, even though we still do not have full access to certain instruments, especially financial instruments, or to the same EU cohesion fund. However, we can use other opportunities,” said the adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
In addition, she informed that the position of deputy for European integration will be created in the regional military administrations on the instructions of the head of government.
Addressing the speaker, the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s EU Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze emphasized what the state should do to improve the level of communication.
“We should speak so that people understand us. When I hear that it is clear to me, and it is probably not clear to everyone, it means that we must all move to the point where we really understand each other. Every institution should have well-trained specialists who understand how they can further use the tools that we will receive today as a result of our efforts,” explained the People’s Deputy.
In her opinion, no deputy ministers for European integration, no deputy heads of military-civilian administrations for European integration are solving the problem. It is not enough to appoint a specialist, it is necessary to train him qualitatively and expand the field of training. It is equally important to be objective in communication.
“This is the cross-cutting issue both for society and for the smallest community. And this is an overarching task for the country. – emphasized Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. – Do not believe those who tell you that in two years we will be members of the European Union. This is unfair to the Ukrainian people. And it’s not even in our interests, however strange it may sound. We must prepare to be so competitive that when we enter the European Union, we immediately enter as a strong member of the European Union.”
The event was held as part of the project “Strengthening Information Resilience in Ukraine” in partnership with the International Practitioners’ Partnership Network (Estonia) with the support of the European Union.