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In order to find updated information of how the Enterprise Europe Network and the European Union are responding to the war in Ukraine, please visit this page.
Enterprise Europe Network, EYE and Cluster support to Ukraine and supply chain disruptions
- The Enterprise Europe Network has removed all Russian and Belarusian entities from the Network and partner database.
- The Enterprise Europe Network contributes to mitigating the adverse effects of the war on Ukraine for European citizens and businesses by:
1. Demonstrating solidarity with colleagues working for the Network in Ukraine – the Network will hire staff of Ukrainian Network partners via service contracts and invite staff of Ukrainian Network partners to extended staff exchanges.
2. Contributing to humanitarian relief for Ukraine - the networks support the humanitarian relief efforts for Ukraine. In the context of the ongoing military hostilities in Ukraine, the Network extends its services to social enterprises, NGOs and/or humanitarian organisations involved in helping Ukrainian people.
3. Supporting supply chain resilience for European businesses - following the disintegration of international trade arrangements and a severe global pandemic, the war in Ukraine disrupted the established international supply chains even further.
For this reason, the Enterprise Europe Network has set up the Supply Chain Resilience platform - a tool for identification of supply chain disruptions for the EU and Ukrainian SMEs and a partner search to assist with an increasingly urgent need for assistance to companies that have lost their import/export markets inter alia in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus.
It offers the opportunity to make targeted and time-efficient contacts with all actors in industry, academia and government. Interested parties, and especially the European SMEs, can present their profile.
By promoting the platform, Network advisers can help European companies to retain, re-structure or replace existing supply chains from markets now cut from international trade. The goal of the platform is to supply European companies with the raw materials and/or (semi)-finished goods they need to keep production going.
To ensure maximum reliability and to avoid fraud and abuse, the different profiles will be strictly validated by regional Network organisations.
- The EU Clusters Support Ukraine Forum has been created under the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) to enhance the ability of European industry to contribute to the delivery of humanitarian aid for Ukraine and to support Ukrainian refugees by the European Commission and by the Member State countries. The forum is actively facilitated by an EU-Ukraine team from clusters and Enterprise Europe Network. The forum can be used by:
- Enterprise Europe Network Ukraine partner organisations, Ukrainian companies and organisations can submit their specific aid requests
- ECCP members, EEN members, SMEs, citizens can participate and make the humanitarian aid donations
- Logistics and transportation are facilitated to the existing hubs in the Ukrainian border countries, i.e. in Poland,
- EU Survey for European companies and clusters on supply chain disruptions. Direct feedback from companies and clusters is a valuable and important complement to the information we are gathering now from Member States.
- Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme has reached out to Ukrainian intermediary organisations and entrepreneurs in order to support them in this crisis. Contingency measures were taken in order to help the functioning of the organisations and match Ukrainian entrepreneurs with their hosts outside of Ukraine. Entrepreneurs already on business exchanges abroad were granted extensions of their stays, as requested.
New calls to support the integration of Ukrainian SMEs in the Single Market
The Europen Commission launched two calls for proposals under the joint title "ReadyForEU", with a total budget of €7.5 million.
The two calls aim at helping Ukrainian entrepreneurs and businesses to benefit from the Single Market:
- Support to Ukrainian companies to integrate into the Single Market (SMP-COSME-2023-SMEUA)
- Support to Ukrainian entrepreneurs- Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (SMP-COSME-2023-EYEUA)
The EU’s wider response
The EU and its international partners are united in condemning the war in Ukraine. The EU will continue to offer strong political, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and impose hard-hitting sanctions against Russia and those complicit in the war. As the humanitarian situation in Ukraine worsens and neighbouring countries receive Ukrainians fleeing their country, the European Commission is working on all fronts to provide emergency assistance. Please find below the relevant links where you can find all updated information:
- Practical information on the EU actions when it comes to helping Ukrainians, new measures, humanitarian assistance, addressing disinformation and relevant documents can be found on the central website EU solidarity with Ukraine
Solidarity Lanes to help Ukraine export agricultural goods: The European Commission sets out an action plan to establish 'Solidarity Lanes' to ensure Ukraine can export grain, but also import the goods it needs, from humanitarian aid to animal feed and fertilisers. More detailed information is available in the official communication published by the European Commission
The EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes Business Matchmaking Platform: The platform contributes to the implementation of one of the actions foreseen under the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes Action Plan and brings EU and Ukrainian businesses together to find practical solutions to the export of agricultural produce from Ukraine.
Transit of goods from Russia: The European Commission has published further guidance to Member States on the transit of goods from Russia.
Flexible Assistance to Territories (FAST-CARE): The European Commission adopted a new comprehensive package that extends the help already provided under Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) by offering further support and further flexibility to Cohesion Policy funding.
The European Commission has set out plans in a Communication for the EU's immediate response to address Ukraine's financing gap, as well as the longer-term reconstruction framework. To support the reconstruction plan, the Commission proposes to set up the 'RebuildUkraine' Facility as the main legal instrument for the European Union's support, through a mix of grants and loans. A press release and factsheet are available online.
The European Commission has presented the REPowerEU Plan, its response to the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There is a double urgency to transform Europe’s energy system: ending the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which are used as an economic and political weapon and cost European taxpayers nearly €100 billion per year, and tackling the climate crisis. By acting as a Union, Europe can phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels faster. The measures in the REPowerEU Plan can respond to this ambition, through energy savings, diversification of energy supplies, and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels in homes, industry and power generation. Alongside the REPowerEU Plan, today the Commission is also continuing its work to tackle high energy prices by presenting short-term emergency measures and options for long-term improvements of the energy markets. For more information, please consult the REPowerEU press release.
- EU takes steps to suspend all duties on imports from Ukraine: The European Commission proposed on 27 April to suspend for one year import duties on all Ukrainian exports to the European Union. The proposal, which is an unprecedented gesture of support for a country at war, would also see the suspension for one year of all EU anti-dumping and safeguard measures in place on Ukrainian steel exports.
- Restrictive measures (sanctions) are an essential tool in the EU’s common foreign and security policy, through which the EU can intervene where necessary to prevent conflict or respond to emerging or current crises. In reaction to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine the European Union adopted sanctions against Russia. These are wide-ranging and unprecedented packages of measures the EU has been taking in response to Russia's acts of aggression against Ukraine's territorial integrity and mounting atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and cities. The European Commission has also prepared the Map of the EU sanctions, with integrated Whistleblower tool, via which possible violations of any EU sanctions can be brought to the Commission’s attention
- Detailed guide on export related restrictions has been published by DG TRADE of the European Commission
- The war in Ukraine is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world. The conflict has also created a massive internal displacement. According to UN estimations, the number of people potentially affected by the war could reach 18 million. The EU is welcoming and helping people fleeing the war in Ukraine and coming to the European Union. The temporary protection mechanism was triggered: the Council of the European Union adopted unanimously the European Commission’s proposal to activate the Temporary Protection Directive to offer assistance to people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Under this mechanism, those fleeing the war are now granted temporary protection in the EU, including a residence permit, access to education and to the labour market. The temporary protection starts applying immediately and for the moment runs for 1 year. This period can be extended automatically by 6 monthly periods for a further year. Read the press release
- Via the link Information for people fleeing the war in Ukraine, people fleeing the war will find key information about their rights with regard to crossing the border into an EU country, eligibility for temporary protection and applying for international protection, as well as the rights of travel inside the European Union
- The EU is providing Ukraine with new emergency macro-financial assistance of up to €1.2 billion. The disbursement of funds has been fast-tracked to help enhance Ukraine's macroeconomic stability in the context of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion
- The EU prepared an emergency package of €500 million to deal with the humanitarian consequences of the crisis. As part of this, €93 million are being made available for humanitarian aid programmes to help civilians affected by the war in Ukraine. This includes respectively €85 million for Ukraine and €8 million for Moldova to provide assistance to people fleeing Ukraine. This EU humanitarian aid will provide food, water, healthcare, shelter and help cover people's basic needs
- The European Commission is also coordinating the delivery of material assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to Ukraine, with Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in the heart of it. The Commission is coordinating the delivery of material assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to Ukraine, which includes several million essential medical care items and civil protection support. The Commission is in constant contact with other neighbouring countries of Ukraine and stands ready to provide further assistance as requested. The ERCC coordinates the delivery of assistance to disaster-stricken countries, such as relief items, expertise, civil protection teams and specialised equipment
- rescEU - The European Commission works at all levels to channel humanitarian and civil protection support to Ukraine and neighbouring countries. As needs grow exponentially, further assistance is being deployed in Ukraine via the rescEU medical stockpiles based in Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands. The rescEU support includes ventilators, infusion pumps, patient monitors, masks and gowns, ultrasound devices and oxygen concentrators. These hubs will help channel the assistance being delivered from 27 European countries via the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism
- The EU is very active also in fighting disinformation in relation to the war in Ukraine. EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the European External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force. It was established in 2015 to better forecast, address, and respond to the Russian Federation’s ongoing disinformation campaigns affecting the European Union, its Member States, and countries in the shared neighbourhood.
Temporary Framework for State aid – The sanctions adopted by the EU in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine also take a toll on the European economy and will continue to do so in the coming months. To mitigate the economic impact of this war and to support severely impacted companies and sectors, the Commission enabled Member States to use the flexibility foreseen under State aid rules to tackle this unprecedented situation, while protecting the level playing field in the Single Market. State aid: Commission adopts Temporary Crisis Framework
The new framework will enable the Member States to (i) grant limited amounts of aid to companies affected by the current crisis or by the related sanctions and countersanctions; (ii) ensure that sufficient liquidity remains available to businesses; and (iii) compensate companies for the additional costs incurred due to an exceptionally high gas and electricity prices.
- Antitrust – Joint statement by the European Competition Network (ECN) on the application of competition law in the context of the war in Ukraine. Considering the current circumstances, cooperation measures to mitigate the effect of severe disruptions would likely either not amount to a restriction of competition under Article 101 TFEU/53 EEA or generate efficiencies that would most likely outweigh any such restriction. In any event, in the current circumstances, the ECN will not actively intervene against strictly necessary and temporary measures specifically targeted at avoiding the aforementioned severe disruptions caused by the impact of the war and/or of sanctions in the Internal Market. If companies, on the basis of their self-assessment, have doubts about the compatibility of such cooperation initiatives with EU/EEA competition law, they can reach out to the Commission, the EFTA Surveillance Authority or the national competition authority concerned any time for informal guidance.
Europe for Ukraine: Following the conclusions of the European Council of 24-25 March, marked by the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, the Commission has presented a 10-Point Plan for stronger European coordination on welcoming people fleeing the war against Ukraine. The plan includes the creation of an EU platform for registration to exchange information on beneficiaries of temporary protection, the mapping of reception capacity and accommodation to match the offers of those Member States that can provide help to those that need support, etc.
Ukraine: Commission helps professionally qualified refugees access jobs in the EU. The European Commission published a recommendation on the recognition of academic and professional qualifications for people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It will provide Member States' authorities with guidance and practical advice to ensure a quick, fair and flexible recognition process. For more information about the actions, please consult the press release.
Guidance to the Member States concerning foreign direct investment from Russia and Belarus in view of the military aggression against Ukraine and the restrictive measures laid down in recent Council Regulations on sanctions. For more information, consult the European Commission official publication.
Picture credits © Andrii Dubchak/Donbas Frontliner via Zaborona/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images