Learning from European experience, sharing our own insights
An Educational Visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the Silesian Voivodeship (Poland) and the Lusatia region (Germany) is currently underway. The visit aims to explore Just Transition Practices in European Coal Regions.
The Association of Coal Communities of Ukraine is represented by Deputy CEO, Oksana Tomashuk. During a workshop in the German city of Weißwasser, she presented the Association’s activities and shared the Ukrainian perspective of coal regions’ transition.
Participants also held in-depth discussions with the Mayor of Weißwasser, Katja Dietrich, and the Mayor of Boxberg, Hendryk Balko, focusing on the challenges of just transition, successful case studies and strategies, as well as the socio-economic vision for regions after decades of deindustrialisation and population decline. This provided a valuable opportunity to exchange experiences and explore prospects for closer cooperation between European municipalities and Ukrainian communities.
“The experience of European communities clearly shows that after decades of deindustrialisation, economies can and should recover successfully. This process is inevitably accompanied by the introduction of innovative solutions and the creation of opportunities for employment and development across different social groups.
Our task is not only to learn from this path, but also to adopt the best governance practices and adapt them to Ukrainian realities.
It is also important that our experience is of interest to European partners, especially as many successful projects have been implemented by coal communities in the context of war, the energy crisis, and a challenging economic environment.
We see a strong willingness among European partners for practical cooperation. The next step is to translate these connections into joint projects that will deliver tangible results for coal communities in Ukraine,” stated Oksana Tomashuk.
The study visit to European coal regions started on April 19 and will continue until April 25. It brings together representatives of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, regional and district military administrations of Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Volyn regions, as well as local communities from coal regions.
The study visit is organised within the framework of the Power4Just Transition project, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (GIZ Ukraine ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany (BMWE).
