“Promoting enhanced cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries requires decentralised solutions. The new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument proposed this year by the European Commission would benefit from earmarking funds specifically for local and regional authorities,” said ECR member Pavel Branda (Deputy Mayor of Radlo in the Czech Republic) during the annual meeting of the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP). 

CORLEAP is the political forum of local and regional authorities from the European Union and the Eastern Partnership countries. At the meeting on 24 September in Kiev, Ukraine, CoR members held discussions with their counterparts from Eastern Partnership countries on the Commission proposal, which envisages scrapping the twelve existing instruments for financial assistance to non-EU countries and replacing them with one global instrument with an increased budget. As it stands, the proposal does not envisage any financing dedicated specifically to local and regional authorities from Eastern Partnership countries. It is also very vague as to the level of funding to be allocated to particular geographical regions.

In addition to taking part in CORLEAP, Mr Branda attended the meeting of Task Force Ukraine on 25 September, where he shared the Czech Republic's experiences of economic transformation after the fall of communism. Mr Branda stressed that it is often more economically sound to support the development of new companies than to restructure the ones that do not function. He also pointed to the fact that supporting foreign investors “cannot be done at the expense of local business”, which has been the case in the Czech Republic. The Task Force meeting was attended by Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade and the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.