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Kadri Simson: The European Commission has set up a fund to support Ukrainian energy infrastructure
The European Commission set up a dedicated fund, where over 500 million euro has already been collected to support the Ukrainian energy infrastructure and the reconstruction of the energy sector in this country, stated, on Wednesday the European Commissionaire for Energy, Kadri Simson, at the ministerial reunion organized within the reunion of the Partnership for Transatlantic Cooperation in Energy and Climate (P=TECC).
‘The European Commission and our member states started to support Ukraine and especially the energy system of Ukraine, the very moment when Russia chose to target the civilian energy infrastructure. This happened in 2022 already, so since then we have set up a community, a dedicated fund and we have managed to collect over 500 million euro which is used to support the Ukrainian energy infrastructure and the reconstruction of the energy sector. Taking this into consideration, starting with 2022, we have managed to transport through our Mechanism for Civilian Protection over 8,100 generators and almost 3,300 transformers. In total, Ukraine has received 16,000, so this shows you the image of the ample support we offer’ said the European commissionaire.
She said that the European policies regarding the support for Ukraine will continue, taking into consideration that Ursula van der Leyen obtained a new mandate to the leadership of the EC.
"The new Commission will hopefully start in December this year. So I will be in office for another three months. And my top priority is to deliver our action plan that we agreed to support Ukraine. And there are several actions. First and foremost, of course, we need to help Ukraine to put back in working order what can be repaired. I know that the Russians have managed to destroy a lot of power generation capacity that cannot be repaired. But we are together with the energy community and our Member States who are offering financial donations and also equipment. And we are looking for concrete projects to build before winter approaches," she added.
The commissioner also said that this is no longer a mission of the Commission on its own, but concerns all companies that have equipment at their disposal that can be transported to Ukraine.
"We have established a very clear transportation route. We know how to deliver specific equipment to where Ukrainians need it. And we have very good cooperation with Ukraine and the Ministry of Energy and Minister Gherman Galushchenko himself. So, the first step is to raise awareness of the scale of the destruction, and one of the actions on our side was the decision to use frozen Russian assets to pay for these equipment deliveries. The second is our cooperation with Ukraine and the support fund. And I am personally appealing to all Member States for additional donations. And thirdly, of course, we have to prioritize the support coming from the European Union, from our electricity producers. And we are working with ENTSO-E (European Transmission System Operators' Association in Europe - editor's note), so that our electricity transmission system operators find ways to increase transmission capacities between continental Europe and Ukraine. And the Republic of Moldova, if necessary for the winter. We want to make sure that Ukraine will be able to buy more electricity from the EU in the coming winter," the Commissioner explained.
Last but not least, Kadri Simson mentioned that the EU collaborates with the member states, especially Romania and Slovakia, as there are several transport lines for electricity which could be modernised, and these could change the data completely.