The Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV), with the support of the Government of Estonia and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), is launching a training programme for Ukrainian civil servants entitled “Capacity building on EU integration”. The project will be implemented in partnership with the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

The programme aims to improve the knowledge of Ukrainian civil servants involved in European integration on the fundamental principles, objectives and functioning of the EU; the competences of the EU institutions and member states; the EU decision-making processes; the EU enlargement and accession negotiations; and the harmonisation of Ukrainian legislation with EU law.

“Ukraine has received the status of a candidate country and has started the self-screening process. We are doing our utmost to open negotiations on Ukraine’s EU membership as soon as possible. This process is completely new for Ukrainian institutions, so we need to provide the best opportunities to train professionals. We are grateful to our Estonian partners for their willingness to share their experience with Ukrainian civil servants,” said Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.

The programme is designed for representatives of public authorities, including ministries, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the Office of the President of Ukraine, who will be involved in the negotiation process for Ukraine’s accession to the EU.

The training will include online lectures and a visit to Estonia. The programme will focus on the functioning of the internal market, EU agricultural and fisheries policy, anti-corruption policy (including the digitalisation of justice systems), anti-money laundering, and media freedom.

The programme will train 70 Ukrainian civil servants in 2023: 40 in the first half of the year (4 groups of 10), 30 in the second half of the year (3 groups of 10). The first four training sessions are scheduled for May-June 2023.