There Is a Need to Speed Up Energy Sector Reforms — Experts
Lack of cooperation of different branches of government and interaction with the expert community may substantially slow down the implementation of the energy sector reform. This opinion was expressed during the presentation of the annual monitoring report on the progress of reforms under Ukraine’s commitments within the framework of the Energy Community.
In particular, according to OlenaPavlenko, President, Dixi Group Analytical Centre, the energy sector reform implementation requires cooperation of reform champions in the Government, the Parliament and in the expert community. In its turn, it will require better communication and improved exchange of information to develop a common vision. “Adoption of the Law on Gas Market and development of the Draft Law on Electricity show that the reform implementation is an attainable goal. Still, we have to improve our cooperation”, told OlenaPavlenko.
“This year demonstrated our lack of communication both on implementation of directives and on monitoring of this process. In this context, we developed an initiative for reboot of our activities within the framework of the Energy Community. We want to stay ahead of the curve rather than catch up in order to understand what we do and what we adopt”, told MykhailoBno-Airian, Head of the European Integration Department, Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry.
“During the last year, Ukraine achieved a substantial progress in reforming some areas of the energy sector. In particular, the new gas market model was launched, the electricity market legislation was developed and some barriers to green energy development were removed. However, such issues as introduction of environmental protection standards, support for energy efficiency, formation of oil and petroleum products reserves and promotion of competition still need to be tackled. It is critical to discuss and pass the Law on Independent Regulator”, told Roman Nitsovych, Program Manager, DiXi Group Analytical Centre.
TorstenWöllert, Support Group for Ukraine, European Commission: “We are now involved in a truly intensive reform promotion process in the energy sector. However, when we talk about the reform implementation, it very often sounds like “There’s a need to amend laws”. Yes, laws do need to be amended. Still, it is important to remember that reforms go far beyond laws. The progress means implementing these reforms into the legal framework and making them work”.
DmytroShulga, European Program Initiative Director, International Renaissance Foundation: “Yes, we did delayed the implementation of many of our commitments. However, as compared to previous years, there are some positive developments. At present, we have some achievements, and I hope that they will multiply next year”.
NataliyaAndrusevych, CEO, Resource and Analysis Centre “Society and Environment”: “Unfortunately, there were no positive developments in the field of environmental protection. We expected brighter results as we know how they care about environmental issues in Europe. Still, we count on positive developments; that’s why we are ready to continue our cooperation with MENR and with the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry”.
Oleg Savytskyi, Energy Sector Greening Program Coordinator, National Ecological Centre of Ukraine: “We should remember that the European energy policy is developed taking account of long-term effects and environmental impact. In the EU, the energy policy is integrated with the climate policy. If Ukraine wants to avoid becoming an outsider, we need to join the transformation that is under way in Europe. It will provide us with wide economic development opportunities”.
The experts emphasized that they would make a continuous independent assessment of Ukraine’s progress in implementation of its commitments under the Treaty establishing the Energy Community. In addition, the participants in the presentation told that they were ready to cooperate with government stakeholders.
The presentation took place within the framework of the Improving Implementation of Ukraine’s Commitments within the Energy Community Through Enhancing Impact of Civil Society project, jointly implemented by DiXi Group and Resource and Analysis Centre “Society and Environment”, and co-financed by the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.
For reference: It should be mentioned that Ukraine became a full member of the Energy Community in February 2011. Our country’s commitments provide for implementation of a wide range of the EU directives and regulations concerning gas, electricity, security of supplies, oil, renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, environmental protection, promotion of competition and statistics development.
