NEW SOCIAL HOUSING PROGRAMS TO LAUNCH IN UKRAINE
NEW SOCIAL HOUSING PROGRAMS TO LAUNCH IN UKRAINE:
The Law on Ukraine's Accession to the Council of Europe Development Bank is passed
On May 29, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine No. 0206 dated 26.05.2023 on the adoption of the Articles of Association of the Council of Europe Development Bank and accession to the Third Protocol to the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe by 296 votes. The draft law was initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After the law is signed by the President of Ukraine and enters into force, our country will be able to complete the formal procedures and become a member of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB).
At a meeting on 8 April 2022, in Paris, the Bank's Governing Board made a gesture of support for our country: our country's accession to the CEB will take place on exceptional financial terms, without payment of the corresponding fee from the State Budget of Ukraine.
Ukraine's accession to the Council of Europe's Development Bank is a powerful positive signal for Ukrainians who have been displaced by the full-scale war. Our citizens will receive new housing and infrastructure programs with a significant social component.
Membership in the Bank was recommended to Ukraine by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Resolution 2198 (2018) "Humanitarian consequences of the war in Ukraine".
For several years in a row, the SFYH, as the leading institution in the implementation of the state housing policy in Ukraine, has been advocating at all levels of government the expediency of our country's accession to the Council of Europe Development Bank.
After 24 February 2022, there was an urgent need to raise funds to rebuild infrastructure, especially social infrastructure, destroyed or damaged by the full-scale war waged by Russia in Ukraine.
The CEB is the oldest European multilateral development bank, and its projects are exclusively socially oriented. The Bank was established in 1956 to address the reintegration of refugees, displaced persons and migrants. The Bank's members are 40 Member States of the Council of Europe, the Holy See, and Kosovo.
The CEB's special social mandate allows it to provide loans to Member States on terms that are much more favorable than market rates. As a non-profit institution, the bank applies a limited margin to its loans and does not charge fees, which significantly reduces the cost of loans to finance social projects.
The bank's priority region is Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. In 2021, 57 projects totaling €4.2 billion were implemented mainly in the countries of this region, and in 2020 – 56 projects totaling €6 billion).
Supporting migrants and refugees is a core focus of the CEB's work. The Bank has extensive experience in this area: since the 1990s, due to the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, the CEB-funded housing program for displaced persons has been implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. By the end of 2021, 26,500 people had been provided with new housing through this program.
Since 1956, the total volume of housing projects approved by the bank has reached €11 billion. As of June 2022, the CEB was implementing 13 projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Macedonia.
As the Council of Europe's main instrument for implementing social solidarity policy in Europe, the CEB promotes the implementation of socially oriented projects in member states through three sectoral areas of activity: sustainable inclusive growth; support and improvement of the quality of life of vulnerable groups and integration of refugees, displaced persons and migrants; and activities for sustainable environmental development.
From the first day of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, the CEB has been involved in providing practical assistance to the victims of the war unleashed by Russia, including those who were forced to flee Ukraine. The bank has repeatedly provided funds to support people displaced from Ukraine.
Therefore, the adoption of the aforementioned Law and Ukraine's subsequent accession to the CEB will allow the Bank to attract funds to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed as a result of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, and will have a positive impact on the economic and social development of our country and the solution of social problems of Ukrainians.