Recently, relations between Ukraine and Poland can hardly be called good and neighborly. However, many things unite these countries, not divide. For example, cooperation in the energy sector. We discussed this at our first Ukrainian-Polish discussion within the framework of the “Ukrainian Path to European Union. Polish Accession Experience” project.
An EU sustainability regulation, part of the Green Deal, risks making entrepreneurship almost impossible in the European Union. By aiming to “harmonize” at the EU level the criteria for which economic activity “qualifies as environmentally sustainable”, the regulation in question will make doing business in the EU unnecessarily difficult. Complying with environmental legislation in the European Union, besides being controversial, is already very complicated.
The EU’s Green Deal is a package of policy proposals introduced in 2019 by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The aim of the package, which President von der Leyen described as “Europe’s man on the Moon moment” is making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring that “no person and no place is left behind in the transition.”
Currently, Europe is focusing on other issues, particularly environmental protection and the fight against climate change. To this end, a broad investment strategy has been developed, which is detailed in the Green Deal and other related plans. A key component of these strategies is the energy sector, where the European Union has set ambitious targets for transitioning away from coal-fired energy sources and promoting the use of renewable sources.
The current energy crisis is a huge lesson for the Green Deal. Ambitious goals, boldly planned in a period of cheap and available energy, are much more difficult and expensive to achieve in a period of scarcity and uncertainty.
Green investment is the process of directing financial flows to sustainable development priorities, for example, from banking, insurance, or investment. These flows are key in the implementation of the objectives of the European Green Deal.
The economy has not yet recovered from the corona-crisis and is already threatened by another serious danger: green-flation. Based on the sound similarity of two words, inflation-greenflation, this new English phrase has only recently emerged.
The Lithuanian government seems to have a clear vision and arguments about how we should move towards the green economy. More importantly, everyone is invested in making an actual change happen. Increased public awareness is already impacting our habits and behaviors.
The European Commission has launched an initiative on the evaluation and revision of the general pharmaceutical legislation with an overall aim to ensure a future-proof and crisis-resistant regulatory system. The revision is intended to ensure access to affordable medicines, to foster innovation, including in areas of unmet medical need, to improve security of supply and address shortages, to promote technological development and to reduce red tape.
The Council of the European Union as voice of the member governments and as main legislative body of the EU alongside with the Parliament, had a key role in these debates which worth to recall.
