The European Union can allocate additional financial assistance to Ukraine for the creation of a national blood service. This was stated during the conference "Press coverage of European integration: what is missing", Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze stated.

"This reform envisages  large financial outlays. We are in direct dialogue with our partners and we already have a consent of the European Union to disburse additional financial assistance for the creation of this service", the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze reminded that on February 20, the Government approved the Strategy for the Development of the National Blood Service. It stipulates for implementation of drastic changes in the structure and creation of a blood system at the national, regional and hospital levels,

"The reform is far-reaching, but it concerns everyone. We, our parents or our children may need to take blood products, and we are all interested in high-quality of such products", the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that reform of the national blood service is one of the obligations of Ukraine under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This is a clear example of how the implementation of the Agreement will have a practical effect on the lives of citizens.

"Therefore, I insist that all Government’s priority action plans should be formed in line with the European integration pillar," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

According to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the European integration component should be taken into account in the adoption of any important laws, acts and decisions, ranging from education reform to infrastructure construction and transport safety. However, very often, European integration initiatives are not supported by the line ministries and the Parliament. "We are deprived of opportunity to reform some industries because of the lack of a basis and necessary legislative changes. There are branches in which we did not achieve any progress at all precisely because the Verkhovna Rada can not approve draft laws that would allow us to move forward", she stressed.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze cited as an example a government bill "On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine on Authorized Economic Operator and Streamlining of Customs Procedures". The Parliament has been failing to approve this document for three years that sets the preconditions for the future recognition of the status of authorized economic operators provided by the customs authorities of Ukraine and countries of the European Union. In practice, implementation of this law will increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian enterprises in  external and domestic markets.