Lessons from EU funding in Eastern Europe and implications for Ukraine

Since the outbreak of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has been working towards integrating Ukraine into the bloc. This integration is expected to require billions of euros of support.

T&E’s new report analyses the direction of EU money flows in transport infrastructure upon the accession of ten Eastern European states (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania). Primarily focused on the cohesion funds (2007-2013, 2014-2020) and CEF (2014-2020) allocated to road, rail, urban transport, airports and intermodal networks, we draw critical lessons for sustainable transport development of the Ukrainian transport system.

To supplement the analysis, T&E investigates eight case studies to draw some important lessons from this experience. These will be crucial for Ukraine, as it inches closer to EU membership.

Agenda: 04 December, 2024

13:00 - 13:10 Opening remarks

MEP Petras Auštrevičius, Renew Europe

MEP Villy Søvndal, Greens/EFA

13:10 - 13:20 Presentation of the report findings by T&E

Anastasiia Nahorna, Infrastructure Analyst and Coordinator, T&E

13:20 – 14:10 Panel discussion with moderation

Moderator: Juan Caballero, Senior Project Coordinator on Mobility at Eurocities

Panelists:

• Peter Polajnar, deputy Head of Unit in the Ukraine service of DG NEAR
• Analolii Timenko, Director of Recovery and Reform Support Team at the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine
• Raul Cazan, President at 2Celsius
• Thomas Earl, Director of Modelling and Data Analysis at T&E
• Representative from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania (tbc)

14:10 - 14:25 Reactions by the MEPs & discussion

14:25 - 14:30 Closing remarks

Interpretation English-Ukrainian will be available