On November, 11 New Europe Center hold the debates in Kyiv, at which the research “The European map of Ukraine. Rating of European Integration of Regions” was presented. The research was prepared by the New Europe Center analysts in cooperation with the Government Office for Coordination on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

“The European map” is the first comprehensive study of Ukraine’s progress towards European integration. It is a rating of Ukraine’s regions, compiled on the basis of compliance with 34 indicators in 8 spheres, which most clearly reflect the dynamics of the regions’ rapprochement with the EU.

During the presentation Alyona Getmanchuk, NEC Director and Sergiy Solodkyy, NEC First deputy director emphasized on the following facts:

• The three leaders of the rating are Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia regions. However, even these regions are far from the perfect state, as they achieved only slightly over a half of all indicators.
• The Southern and Eastern regions are leading in a number of sectors: for example, Mykolaiv region has the best performance in increasing its capabilities in exports to the EU market. Donetsk and Luhansk regions have the most projects with loan support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, and Kherson and Kharkiv are leaders in terms of funding such projects. Among the leading regions with the highest number of enterprises with foreign capital from the EU countries are Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.
• While in 2004-2013, only 329 students had entered the Erasmus Mundus program (the predecessor of Erasmus+) to study in Europe, in 2014-2018, the respective figure was 10 158.
• The share of renewable electricity in the vast majority of Ukrainian regions accounts for up to 5% of the total electricity generated in the region. In the EU the average share amounts 17% (2016).
• The gender pay gap across Ukraine is 20.7%. In the EU Member States, the respective figure is 16% (on average). If we look at specific examples of EU Member States, in certain cases Ukraine shows even better results.
• Over 70% of the staff of regional state administrations are women. Nevertheless, only 4 of 24 RSAs are headed by women.

The invited speakers included Dmytro Kuleba, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Tobias Thyberg, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Ukraine, Oleksandr Sushko, Executive director of the International Renaissance Foundation.

In debate also participated such Ukrainian experts and government officials as Olga Stefanishyna, Hanna Hopko, Mariya Golub and others. Representatives of foreign diplomatic missions also attended the event.

Pay attention! New Europe Center has also prepared infographics on Ukraine’s progress towards European integration.

The event is organized within the Think Tanks Development Initiative for Ukraine, implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE) and with financial support from the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.