Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the European Commission on 16 November 2022.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 16 November 2022.

The Commission calls upon the Council to take the necessary decisions without any further delay to allow Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to fully participate in the Schengen area. In a Communication adopted today, the Commission takes stock of the three Member States’ strong record of achievements in the application of the Schengen rules.

For years, these Member States have significantly contributed to the well-functioning of the Schengen area, including during the time of the pandemic and more recently when faced with the unprecedented consequences of the war in Ukraine. While the three countries are already bound in part by the Schengen rules, the internal border controls with these Member States have not been lifted and therefore they do not enjoy the full benefits that come with being part of the Schengen area without internal border controls. Becoming fully part of the Schengen area is a requirement for these Member States and they should therefore be permitted to do so given that they fulfil the conditions.

An enlarged Schengen area without internal border controls will make Europe safer – through reinforced protection of our common external borders and effective police cooperation – more prosperous – by eliminating time lost at borders and facilitating people and business contacts – and more attractive – by significantly expanding the world’s largest common area without internal border controls.

Bulgaria has put in place a strong border management with efficient border surveillance and systematic border checks. Fight against cross-border crime is prioritised through international police cooperation, including with Europol. The Schengen Information System is well-established. Bulgaria also demonstrated that it has the necessary structures in place to ensure respect for fundamental rights, guaranteeing access to international protection, respecting the principle of non-refoulement.

Romania has high-quality and strong border management, including border surveillance and systematic border checks, and international police cooperation. Fight against irregular migration and trafficking in human beings are two priorities where Romania is active. The Schengen Information System is well established. Concerning the respect for fundamental rights, Romania has effective structures in place to guarantee access to international protection respecting the principle of non-refoulement.

Bulgaria and Romania successfully completed the Schengen evaluation process in 2011. The Council recognised the completion of the evaluation process in two separate Council Conclusions, but no Council decision on the lifting of internal borders has been taken for more than 11 years. Given the time passed since 2011, as well as with a view to strengthen mutual trust and in acknowledgement of the development of the Schengen rules since 2011, Bulgaria and Romania issued a Joint Declaration in the Council in March 2022. Bulgaria and Romania invited a team of experts on a voluntary basis under the coordination of the Commission to look into the application of the latest developments of the Schengen rules.

This voluntary fact-finding mission, which took place in October 2022, confirmed that Bulgaria and Romania have not only continued implementing the new rules and tools, but that they have also substantially reinforced the overall application of the Schengen architecture in all its dimensions. Moreover, these two countries proved to have a model track record of implementation of the Schengen rules.

In December 2021, the Council confirmed that Croatia had fulfilled the conditions required to join the Schengen area without internal border controls. The evaluation process took place from 2016 to 2020. It included a successful targeted verification visit in 2020 to verify the implementation of actions in external border management. Croatia has made considerable efforts to ensure that controls of external borders comply with fundamental rights obligations. In particular, Croatia set up an Independent Monitoring Mechanism in June 2021, which provides for independent human rights monitoring of border-related operations involving migrants and asylum-seekers. The Mechanism directly involves Croatian stakeholders and is guided by an independent Advisory Board. Croatia was the first Member State to put in place such a mechanism. A new agreement extending and reinforcing the Independent Monitoring Mechanism was signed on 4 November 2022. This new agreement fully reflects all the recommendations issued by the Advisory Board on 27 October 2022.

Next steps

Under the steer of the Czech Presidency, on 8 December the Justice and Home Affairs Council will vote on the full participation of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to the Schengen area without internal border controls.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 16 November 2022.

Today a landmark new set of EU rules for a safer and more accountable online environment enters into force with the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA applies to all digital services that connect consumers to goods, services, or content. It creates comprehensive new obligations for online platforms to reduce harms and counter risks online, introduces strong protections for users’ rights online, and places digital platforms under a unique new transparency and accountability framework. Designed as a single, uniform set of rules for the EU, these rules will give users new protections and businesses legal certainty across the whole single market. The DSA is a first-of-a-kind regulatory toolbox globally and sets an international benchmark for a regulatory approach to online intermediaries.

New responsibilities for digital services

The DSA introduces a comprehensive new set of rules for online intermediary services on how they have to design their services and procedures. The new rules include new responsibilities to limit the spread of illegal content and illegal products online, increase the protection of minors, give users more choice and better information. The obligations of different online players match their role, size and impact in the online ecosystem; an overview is available here.

All online intermediaries will have to comply with wide-ranging new transparency obligations to increase accountability and oversight, for example with new flagging mechanism for illegal content. But a special regime is introduced for platforms with more than 45 million users: for such very large online platforms or search engines, further obligations include wide-ranging annual assessments of the risks for online harms on their services – for example with regard to exposure to illegal goods or content or the dissemination of disinformation. Under the DSA, suitable risk mitigation measures will have to be put in place, and subject to independent auditing of their services and mitigation measures.

Smaller platforms and start-ups will benefit from a reduced set of obligations, special exemptions from certain rules, and most crucial increased legal clarity and certainty for operating across the whole EU’s single market.

Enhanced safeguards for fundamental rights online

The new rules protect users’ fundamental rights in the EU also in the online environment. New protections for the freedom of expression will limit arbitrary content moderation decisions by platforms, and offer new ways for users to take informed action against the platform when their content is moderated: for example, users of online platforms will now have multiple means of challenging content moderation decisions, including when these decisions are based on platforms’ terms and conditions. Users can complain directly to the platform, choose an out-of-court dispute settlement body or seek redress before Courts.

New rules also require platforms’ terms to be presented in a clear and concise manner and to respect users’ fundamental rights.

Very large online platforms and search engines will in addition have to undertake a comprehensive assessment of risks to fundamental rights, including the freedom of expression, the protection of personal data, and freedom and pluralism of the media online as well as the rights of the child.

New supervisory powers for the Commission

The DSA creates an unprecedented level of public oversight of online platforms across the Union, both at national and EU level. The Commission has powers to directly supervise VLOPs and VLOSEs, companies which individually reach more than 10% of the EU population, approximately 45 million people. Additionally, each Member State will have to designate a Digital Services Coordinator, who will supervise other entities in scope of the DSA as well as VLOPs and VLOSEs for non-systemic issues. The national coordinators and the European Commission will cooperate through a European Board of Digital Services. This EU-wide cooperation mechanism will be established between national regulators and the Commission.

The Commission is setting up a European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT) to support its supervisory role with in-house and external multidisciplinary knowledge. The Centre will provide support with assessments as to whether the functioning of algorithmic systems are in line with the risk management obligations that the DSA establishes for VLOPs and VLOSEs to ensure a safe, predictable and trusted online environment.

Next Steps

Following the entry into force of the DSA today, online platforms will have 3 months to report the number of active end users (17 February 2023) on their websites. The Commission is also inviting all online platforms to notify to it the published numbers. Based on these user numbers, the Commission will make an assessment as to whether a platform should be designated a very large online platform or search engine. Following such a designation decision by the Commission, the entity in question will have 4 months to comply with the obligations under the DSA, including carrying out and providing to the Commission the first annual risk assessment exercise. EU Member States will need to empower their Digital Services Coordinators by 17 February 2024, the general date of entry in application of the DSA, when the DSA is fully applicable for all entities in its scope.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 15 November 2022.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 14 November 2022.

Women in the European Union still continue to earn less than men for equal job, with the average gender pay gap in the EU standing at 13%. This means that for every €1 a man earns, a women will make €0.87. Progress is steady, however still too slow, with a 2.8 percentage point gap reduction in 10 years. This year, European Equal Pay Day falls on 15 November.

Ahead of this symbolic day, Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency and Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, said:

“Equal work deserves equal pay: this is a founding principle of the European Union. Solving the injustice of the gender pay gap cannot come without change to the structural imbalances in society. That is why this Commission doubled down efforts on gender equality and the root causes of pay inequality.

We are now in the final steps to see gender balance on corporate boards becoming a reality across the EU. We have already put new rights in place for women and men to have more choice and to better share caring responsibilities and work. And we count on the Member States to up their game on accessible, affordable, and high-quality early childhood education and long-term care – a prerequisite to support women’s participation in the labour market.

We need to empower women so that they can fulfill their potential.

However, an important piece of the puzzle is missing: pay transparency. Transparency contributes towards ending gender bias in pay from the outset and empowers workers to enforce their right to equal pay for the same work or work of equal value. We call on the European Parliament and the Council to adopt our proposed Pay Transparency Directive without undue delay.

Everyone benefits, when all are equal.”

Background

Nine out of ten Europeans – women and men – think that it is unacceptable that women are paid less than men for the same work or work of equal value. Majority of European workers is in favour of the publication of average wages by job type and gender at their company.

The gender pay gap is a symptom of more structural imbalances between men and women in economic representations, access to education, and household care responsibilities. Women are still underrepresented, and undervalued in positions of economic decision-making.  A large majority of scientists, engineers, and skilled technical workers are men. Women disproportionately bear the duties of household and childcare with 90% of the formal care workforce made up of women, and 7.7 million women out of employment because of care responsibilities.

In March 2020, the Commission published its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 setting out actions to close the gender pay gap. In November 2020, the Commission adopted its 2021-2025 Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in External Action.

The Commission’s proposal on pay transparency, adopted on 4 March 2021, introduces to measures to ensure that women and men in the EU get equal pay for equal work.

In June 2022, the European Parliament and the Council approved the Commission’s proposal to improve the gender balance on corporate boards. It will soon become EU law.

The Commission’s proposal on adequate minimum wages for workers, adopted on 28 October 2020, supports gender equality by helping to close the gender pay gap and to lift women out of poverty, as more women than men earn minimum wages in Europe.

The Commission also addresses women’s underrepresentation in the labour market by improving the work-life balance of working parents and carers. The new Directive on work-life balance entered into force on 2 August 2022.

In September 2022, the Commission presented the European Care Strategy to ensure quality, affordable and accessible care services across the European Union. The Strategy is accompanied by two Recommendations for Member States on the revision of the Barcelona targets on early childhood education and care, and on access to affordable high-quality long-term care.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 14 November 2022.

Today, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, on a proposal from the European Commission, have reached an agreement on the EU budget for 2023. The agreement is for commitments of €186.6 billion, and payments of €168.7 billion. Once adopted, the budget would allow the EU to mobilise significant funds to help mitigate the severe consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in the country but also in the southern neighbourhood and Member States. It would also support the ongoing sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and protect and create jobs. It would trigger further investments into a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe, while protecting the most vulnerable in its neighbourhood and around the world.

The budget agreed today will direct funds to where they can make the greatest difference, in line with the most crucial needs of the EU Member States and the EU’s partners around the world.

More concretely, it has been agreed to direct:

• 14.7 billion to support our neighbours and international development and cooperation. The agreement includes targeted increases for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe (€12.3 billion), focusing on Ukraine and Moldova, migration in the southern neighbourhood as well as for the Humanitarian Aid programme (€1.8 billion) to address crisis situations across the globe;
• €1.5 billion for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and €956.8 million for the Integrated Border Management Fund to step up cooperation on external border management, as well as migration and asylum policy, including support to Member States receiving refugees from Ukraine;
• €3.0 billion for the Connecting Europe Facility for an up-to-date, high-performance transport infrastructure to facilitate cross-border connections, [with particular emphasis on strengthening the EU-Ukraine solidarity lanes, and the energy strand in response to the energy crisis, complementing the €20 billion euro REPowerEU proposal];
• €295.2 million for Military Mobility to improve civilian and military mobility;
• €3.7 billion for Erasmus+ to invest in young people, including pupils and students fleeing Ukraine, as well as €332.8 million for the cultural and creative sectors through the Creative Europe programme;
• €62.9 billion in commitments to support the ongoing recovery by boosting investments in economic, social and territorial cohesion;
• €53.6 billion for the Common Agricultural Policy and €1.1 billion for the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund, for Europe’s farmers and fishermen, but also to strengthen the resilience of the agri-food and fisheries sectors and to provide the necessary scope for crisis management;
• €12.4 billion for Horizon Europe, to support the EU’s research in areas like health, digital, industry, space, climate, energy, and mobility;
• €602.8 million for the Single Market Programme to support small- and medium-sized enterprises across the Union;
• €739.3 million for the EU4Health programme to support the EU Health Union and to deliver a comprehensive response to the health needs of European citizens;
• €1.5 billion under the Just Transition Fund to make sure the transition to climate neutrality works for all and €755.5 million under the LIFE programme to support environment and climate action;
• €309.9 million for the Internal Security Fund, €945.7 million for the European Defence Fund to support European strategic autonomy and security, and €157.0 million for European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act.

The full breakdown per heading is available here:

Source: European Commission: Figures expressed in €million, in current prices

Together with the budget for 2023, the EU institutions agreed to endorse the proposed amendments to the 2022 budget as tabled by the Commission earlier this year. Once the approval process is finalised, the Commission will be able to continue supporting and assisting Ukraine, help Member States more affected from the inflow of migrants and Ukraine refugees, strengthen the Union’s preparedness for forest fires, respond to the currents outbreaks of avian influenza and swine fever, and address further challenges stemming from the overall macroeconomic context.

In parallel to the annual budget for 2023, EU countries will continue to rely on support from the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument and the Recovery and Resilience Facility at its heart.

On top of the budget reinforcement the Commission proposed on 9 November an unprecedented support package for Ukraine of up to €18 billion for 2023. This will come in the form of highly concessional loans, disbursed in regular instalments as of 2023.

What happens next?

The annual budget for 2023 will now be formally adopted by the Council of the European Union and by the European Parliament. The vote in plenary, which will mark the end of the process, is currently scheduled for 23 November 2022.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 13 November 2022.

Tomorrow, 14 November is World Diabetes Day. On this occasion, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, made the following statement:

“Diabetes can affect everyone, irrespective of background, age, and gender. Today, one in ten adults, or more than 32 million people, have diabetes in the EU. This is twice as many as a decade ago.

Diabetes takes a heavy toll on our societies and our healthcare systems. It increases the risk of developing potentially dangerous cardiovascular diseases. We also know that it increases the risk of serious disease for persons suffering from COVID-19. And it puts a heavy strain on our health budgets, with diabetes accounting for an estimated 9% of EU health expenditure in 2019.

As a result, we can and must do more to tackle diabetes. The burden of type 2 diabetes can for example be reduced by interventions that support a healthier lifestyle, such as a healthy diet, physical activity and not smoking.

As with our work on cancer, when it comes to non-communicable diseases, prevention is always better than the cure. This is why the Commission is already working on actions to better prevent, detect and treat non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, in a more comprehensive way.

To achieve this, under the ‘Healthier Together – EU Non-communicable diseases initiative’, we have already launched actions worth €156 million in our 2022 EU4Health programme, with Member States having expressed interest in improving early detection of diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases through screening, for example. Children and young people are specifically targeted in initiatives focusing on health promotion and disease prevention.

In addition, under our joint action on health determinants, €75 million has been allocated to address risk factors related to diabetes and other non-communicable diseases to better understand them and support actions to mitigate them.

Furthermore, Member States’ joint action on diabetes and cardiovascular diseases has €53 million, still available for application until January 2023, to take further actions at national level to tackle diabetes.

We are also working with Member States and stakeholders to find the best way to share best practices on health promotion and non-communicable disease prevention, including on physical activity, nutrition, and other risk factors such as tobacco consumption. I invite everyone to use EU tools, such as the Best Practice Portal to upload best practices, and the EU Health Policy Platform to disseminate information.

Taken together, these actions are about people. We know that diabetes has a significant impact on daily life for so many. This must change. On this World Diabetes Day, I call on Member States and stakeholders to continue working with us to help improve the lives of the 32 million Europeans living with diabetes. This is our responsibility.”

The press release issued by the European Commission on 11 November 2022.

The United States, European Union, Japan, Canada, Norway, Singapore, and the United Kingdom are committed to taking rapid action to address the dual climate and energy security crises that the world faces.

We affirm the need to accelerate global transitions to clean energy, recognizing that reliance on unabated fossil fuels leaves us vulnerable to market volatility and geopolitical challenges.

We also recognize that under IPCC 1.5°C-aligned scenarios, fossil fuel consumption will persist, at rapidly declining levels, as the global energy transition unfolds. As such, we emphasize that dramatically reducing methane, CO2, and other greenhouse gas emissions across the fossil fuel energy value chain is a necessary complement to global energy decarbonization in order to limit warming to 1.5°C.

We commit to taking immediate action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil energy production and consumption, particularly to reduce methane emissions. We emphasize that reducing methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from the fossil energy sector enhances energy security by reducing avoidable routine flaring, venting, and leakage that wastes natural gas. We also note that these measures will also improve health outcomes by eliminating black carbon and other associated air pollutants.

We call on fossil energy importers to take steps to reduce the methane emissions associated with their energy consumption, which can spur emissions reductions across the value chain. We also call on fossil energy producers to implement projects and supporting policies and measures to achieve emissions reductions across fossil energy operations.

We call for global action to reduce methane emissions in the fossil energy sector to the fullest extent practicable, with the aim to reduce warming by 0.1°C by midcentury, consistent with International Energy Agency findings of the near-term warming reduction effects of fully deploying technically feasible mitigation in this sector.

We reaffirm the call to action under the Global Methane Pledge to reduce collective anthropogenic methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030 as an essential strategy to reduce warming in the near term and keep a 1.5°C limit on temperature rise within reach. We recognize that the fossil energy sector must lead in rapid methane mitigation given the abundance of technically feasible and cost-effective mitigation measures available in the fossil energy sector, as called for in the Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway.

Recognizing the urgency of reducing emissions from fossil energy value chains, we commit to working towards the creation of an international market for fossil energy that minimizes flaring, methane, and CO2 emissions across the value chain to the fullest extent practicable, as we also work to phase down fossil fuel consumption. We support the development of frameworks or standards for fossil energy suppliers to provide accurate, transparent, and reliable information to purchasers about the methane and CO2 emissions associated with their value chains.

We will support domestic and international action to achieve emissions reductions across the fossil energy value chain, such as:

• Adopting policies and measures to achieve rapid and sustained reductions in methane and CO2 emissions across the fossil energy value chain:
  • Adopting policies and measures to eliminate routine venting and flaring and to conduct regular leak detection and repair campaigns in upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas operations.
  • Adopting policies and measures to capture, utilize, or destroy methane in the coal sector to the fullest extent practicable, including through pre-mine drainage, coal mine methane destruction, and ventilation air methane destruction.
  • Putting in place measures to require or strongly incentivize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil energy imports.
• Adopting policies and measures to support robust measurement; monitoring, reporting, and verification; and transparency for methane emissions data in the fossil energy sector:
  • Adopting policies and measures to improve the accuracy of methane emissions data, and affirming the need to enhance greenhouse gas inventories, including through improving data availability and through direct measurements at source level for gas and oil, in view of moving towards highest tier IPCC methods for emissions quantification based on direct measurement, stochastic sampling, emissions factors, and other IPCC-approved approaches, and improving monitoring, reporting, and verification mechanisms as new data becomes available.
  • Supporting frameworks or standards to improve the accuracy, availability, and transparency of fossil energy methane emissions and emissions intensity data at the cargo, portfolio, jurisdiction, and country level, including consideration of accepted protocols such as the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP2.0) standard and tools such as independent verification that can support robust data collection and reporting.
  • Supporting international efforts to improve methane emissions measurement; monitoring, reporting, and verification; and transparency, including through partnership with the UNEP International Methane Emissions Observatory and other multilateral partners.
  • Improving data quality on fossil energy methane, including for abandoned wells and mines, non-commercial operations, or retired infrastructure.
• Strengthening coalitions to reduce methane and CO2 emissions in value chains of internationally traded fossil fuels:
  • Engaging public, municipal, and private sector fossil energy producers and purchasers to leverage contracts and other instruments, as appropriate, to improve methane and CO2 emissions performance from traded fossil energy resources, including efforts to decrease the methane and other greenhouse gas intensity per unit of energy delivered.
  • Encouraging companies’ participation in the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP2.0) standard.
• Mobilizing technical assistance and financing for methane and CO2 mitigation in the fossil energy sector:
  • Enhancing the provision of technical assistance and investment for methane and CO2 mitigation along the fossil energy value chain.
  • Developing financial tools and aligning financial standards to support methane and CO2 mitigation in the fossil energy sector.

The press release issued by the European Commission on 11 November 2022.

On behalf of the European Commission, Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Bank Group

As part of the European Union’s response to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the European Commission and bordering EU Member States established on 12 May 2022 the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes. The Solidarity Lanes are essential corridors for Ukraine’s agricultural exports, as well as the export and import of other goods.

As one of the world’s largest grain producers, Ukraine normally supplied around 45 million tonnes of grain to the global market every year. However, in its brutal war against Ukraine, Russia deliberately targets agricultural production and exports, blocking safe passage to and from Ukrainian Black Sea ports and building up stocks in grain silos. This has driven up world cereals prices, created food insecurity globally and put at risk the livelihoods of millions of people who rely on those grains.

Since the inception of the Solidarity Lanes, more than 15 million tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural goods (grain, oilseeds and related products) have been exported, by road, rail and through Black Sea and Danube ports. In addition, since August, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has helped relaunch grain shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, thereby further reducing food prices globally.

Together these initiatives have allowed the export of about 25 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain, oilseeds and related products between May and end of October to world markets, including to the countries most in need.

The Solidarity Lanes are currently the only option for the export of all other, non-agricultural Ukrainian goods to the rest of the world and for importing all the goods it needs, such as fuel and humanitarian assistance. As such, the Solidarity Lanes have become the lifeline of Ukraine’s economy, bringing back more than EUR 15 billion of much-needed income to Ukrainian farmers and businesses.

The EU has been working with Member States, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, international partners and companies, as well as transport operators, to improve the functioning of the Solidarity Lanes. As bordering EU Member States, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, have made tremendous efforts and investments to facilitate these trade routes.

The Solidarity Lanes have become an indispensable link for deepened relations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, and are essential to establish a more stable connectivity with the EU in view of future accession. They bring Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova closer to the EU single market, while keeping both countries connected to the rest of the world.

However, the Solidarity Lanes are reaching their capacity limits, bottlenecks persist and logistics costs are high. To sustain and further increase the capacity of the Solidarity Lanes, we have been mobilising significant investments through various existing EU and national programmes. Administrative and operational facilitation needs to continue, including on streamlining border crossing procedures, and more funding is needed.

The European Commission will urgently dedicate EUR 250 million of grants to boost the Solidarity Lanes. For the short-term, we will support quick improvements, in particular with mobile equipment, to reduce waiting times and improve movement through the border crossing points and their access routes. For the medium-term, we are mobilising the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and EUR 50 million to support the infrastructure developments needed to increase further the capacity of the Solidarity Lanes.

Working with partner Financial Institutions such as the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Bank we want to ensure liquidity for operators, and funding of repairs and capacity increases. Notably:

• The European Investment Bank plans to invest up to EUR 300 million by end-2023 on projects that respond to the Solidarity Lanes objectives. This is on top of the activity already announced and financed [1] in Ukraine, a significant part of which is dedicated to road and railway upgrades. In addition, the European Investment Bank and the European Commission are making available the technical expertise of Jaspers (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions) for the identification and preparation of cross-border transport projects to be financed under the CEF, which can attract potential EIB co-financing.

• On the basis of the work undertaken for several months on the ground with the European Commission and all relevant stakeholders, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development intends to invest EUR 300 million in favour of Solidarity Lanes over 2022-2023 – part of which will go to projects already identified and in the process of being approved.

• The World Bank Group, in addition to its regional transport modelling, rapid damage assessment to identify priority repairs and recovery investments as well as ongoing work on trade and logistics, is preparing an emergency project to undertake repairs of the railway and road infrastructure damaged by the war with up to USD 100 million targeted for disbursement in 2023. Rehabilitation of railway infrastructure and multi-modal logistics in Romania and the Republic of Moldova to Ukraine’s borders is under discussion to support Ukrainian critical exports and imports, and lay foundations for reconstruction.

We also call on our international partners to provide further financial support to these actions, which are essential for Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and for global food security.