European integration economic progress index – the movement of regions on the way to the European economic space
“The European integration economic progress index: three years on the path of Ukraine to a single European economic space” is a conference that took place on February 26, 2018 at Premier Hotel Rus. Experts from the regions shared the results of research of European integration processes. The event was organized by the Polissya Fund of International and Regional Studies.
European integration economic progress indexIt is a tool for comparatively evaluating the degree of convergence of regional economic systems of Ukraine, which includes indicators of depth of trade and economic relations of the region with the EU and indicators of institutional support level, which regional state administrations should provide for maintaining European integration progress.
This tool was developed by the Polissya Fund and used in cooperation with the Association of Regional Analytical Centers for all regions of Ukraine.
During the conference, the results of the calculation of the European integration economic progress index in Ukraine and the regions for 2014 – 2016 were presented. The full report can be downloaded at the link: http://pfirs.org/produkti/book/74-ieep-report-2018-final/3-produkti.html
The participants of the study compared official statistics on two subindes characterizing: deepening trade and economic relations and level of institutional support, respectively. In the general rating, the first three places were taken by Chernivtsi, Volyn and Ternopil regions, respectively. The leader of the subindex of depth of trade and economic interconnections with the EU was the Volyn region. And the championship in the context of the subindex of institutional support for European integration progress was the Chernivtsi region. Analysts from the regions also voiced the dynamics of European integration processes in their areas. The main expert of the project Tatiana Zosimenko noted that trade and economic relations with EU countries have become stronger. Also, in her opinion, institutional support for processes by regional administrations was progressive, but remains a weak place.
According to the regional expert of the project Vasylchenko Galina in the Ivano-Frankivsk region (Public Center “Business Initiatives”) the European integration progress index in Ivano-Frankivsk is unsatisfactory, and the subindex of institutional development looks even worse. “All national ideas and documents related to European integration are not used by the administration,” the expert assures. “Some enterprises follow European standards, but there is no comprehensive policy in this matter.” That is why the institutional component, despite the large number of projects, was appreciated by Ms. Galina with restrained optimism.
“If after the adoption of the Association Agreement, there was a strong information and institutional support for European integration processes, features of trade and economic relations, strengthening of expert potential, then all regions have now come to about one level. The Kharkiv region took 20th position in this rating, ”said Victor Kharkiv Public Public Foundation for the Local Democracy. According to the speaking, the failure of the investment policy is caused by poor investment. However, the positive in this case, the expert sees that there are many activities in the direction of institutional support.
Among others, the Rivne region showed quite interesting dynamics. Back in 2015, this region was an outsider of this study, but during this research period there was a significant height. “It is caused by an increase in exports to EU countries and services,” – says Kashinsky Alexander, a regional expert of the project from the Ostroh City Public Organization “School of Political Analytics” Polis “(Rivne region). Also, according to him, in the institutional plan a significant role was played by the development of green tourism. “The index pulled down insufficient information support,” the expert completed his speech with this conclusion.
“Khmelnytskyi demonstrates, although slow but positive dynamics in exports and investments attracted,”- said Oleg Chernenko (Khmelnitsky region). In his opinion, the negative trend is that the administration declared the development of green tourism, but did not take steps in this direction. Information coverage is also low.
Finally, expert and project coach Yuri also shared comparative information on export and import volumes in the Eastern Partnership countries (Azibibarzhan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) in trade and economic relations with the EU. In terms of exports to the EU, Ukraine occupied the leadership positions among the CPP countries during 2014-2016, and the volume of imports from the EU was the leader throughout the study: 2009-2016.
It should be reminded that the event was held within the framework of the project of the Index of European Integration Economic Progress: an assessment of economic reforms in the regions of Ukraine on the way to the implementation of the EU free trade area, which is implemented by the Polissya Fund of International and Regional Studies (Chernihiv) in partnership with the Association of Regional Analytical Centers. The implementation of the project has become possible within the framework of the Initiative “Promotion of Reforms to Regions” of the Institute of Economic Research and Political Consultations (Kyiv) and “European Truth” with the assistance of the European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid).
The event was prepared with the assistance of the European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid) within the framework of the reform promotion project. Some opinions expressed in materials or voiced in the West are a personal position of authors/speakers and in no way reflect the point of view of the European Union.