Ukraine ratifies Agreement with Romania on Implementation of the Espoo Convention

At its meeting, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the decision to ratify the Agreement with Romania on the Implementation of the Espoo Convention. In fact, the document is the final internal approval of the Agreement on the Implementation of the Espoo Convention, which was signed by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets and the Minister of Environment, Water and Forests of Romania Barna Tánczos in Bucharest on November 18, 2022.

What does it mean? Ukraine should continue to do its "homework" to get out of the "non-compliance" status under the Espoo Convention.

"The 20-year-old conflict case between Ukraine and Romania will finally be resolved. In just 4 months, in the midst of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we managed to reach consensus and sign an agreement with our Romanian counterpart Barna Tánczos on intergovernmental consultations under the Espoo Convention. I am sure that this is only the beginning of our qualitatively new relations with Romania. Yes, we still have a number of cases that have been neglected for a long time. But today, our country is on the verge of change, and it is even more important for us to maintain good neighborly relations and comply with all norms of the international legal order. After all, Ukraine's fulfillment of its European integration obligations and accession to the European family depend on this. That is why today, without delay, we are making every effort to resolve all disputes between Ukraine and its cross-border partners as soon as possible," Ruslan Strilets said.

The agreement will introduce clear consultation mechanisms for both countries:

• It is aimed to establish the timeframe for cross-border consultations;
• the procedure for informing the public;
• mechanisms of interaction between the parties.

It will also help to improve bilateral cooperation between our countries in the field of prevention, reduction and control of harmful transboundary environmental impact from planned activities.

The Agreement applies to the Carpathian region and common transboundary river basins, including the Danube Delta. The team of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources worked on its text together with experts from the European project EU4Environment.