SWEDEN, June 19 - The Swedish Government prioritises Ukraine’s path towards EU membership, and Sweden is now strengthening its support to increase Ukraine’s capability to implement its accession negotiations. The Stockholm School of Economics has been granted SEK 3 million via the Swedish Institute to train Ukrainian civil servants and diplomats in negotiation skills.
The training programme is directed at staff in Ukraine’s public administration who work directly with the negotiations over the country’s EU membership. The programme was launched on 30 May in Kyiv and lasts 18 months. It takes place in close collaboration with the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine and Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, who is leading Ukraine’s EU negotiations.
“Sweden continues to stand by Ukraine’s side on its path towards EU membership, because it belongs in the EU family. The new support will enable the training of civil servants who can strengthen Ukraine’s reform efforts and bring the country into the EU,” says Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa.
The project is made possible through the Strategy for Sweden’s reconstruction and reform cooperation with Ukraine for the period 2023–2027 that the Government adopted in 2023. The new project builds on an already ongoing collaboration between the Stockholm School of Economics and the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, and is now being expanded to include more participants and closer cooperation with Ukraine’s most senior negotiators.
Ukraine submitted its application for EU membership four days after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and was granted candidate status 16 months later. The country’s initiatives to gain membership under the current circumstances clearly demonstrate what a crucial role the EU plays for Ukraine’s future – and the importance of Ukraine for EU cohesion and security.