Features

  • Interview with Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni – EU and Council of Europe combine strengths to help eastern neighbours consolidate reforms
    10-06-2013
    The European Union has already for some time been supporting political and democratic transformation in its eastern neighbourhood through the unique expertise of the Council of Europe (CoE). The latest example is the Eastern Partnership Facility, an instrument that helps partner countries to bring t...
  • Cutting down on energy costs? Yes, you can
    03-05-2013
    The old wooden windows were replaced, a new steam boiler was installed, and even the light bulbs were changed. New, modern equipment was also purchased. At lonel, the largest clothes producer in Moldova, the innovations did not only result in a direct reduction of energy consumption. They also incre...
  • The road to the European market
    23-04-2013
    The economic development of the European Union’s neighbours is of interest both to those countries and to the EU itself. But business environments and practices in the EU and in its neighboring countries to the east are not the same. An EU-funded project is facilitating investments and ec...
  • A cultural route from Castle to Castle
    26-03-2013
      For centuries, European rulers have lined their borders with fortresses and castles. Over the years, their usage has changed, and people now tend to visit them, not looking for shelter from the enemy, but as tourists eager to learn about their history. In 2011, Finland and Russia agreed t...
  • How to improve your business…
    05-03-2013
    Having someone point out exactly what you are doing wrong and what they think you can be doing better, is never easy to take. Business advisory services are all about building a relationship with a company based on trust and mutual understanding, to the point that an otherwise complete stranger, the...
  • Citizens want their public spaces back
    29-01-2013
    In post-Soviet countries urban spaces are being radically transformed. Everything related to the socialist past has been renamed, ranging from streets to monuments. And every urban space has been filled with commercial activities. The centre of Yerevan today is the epitome of this free market &lsquo...
  • Let's meet Europe on the bus
    17-01-2013
    “Can you name three European Union countries?” Even a quiz is proposed to visitors hopping on board the yellow-starred blue bus touring Georgia. The Mobile Information Centre is a new initiative of the EU Delegation: a bus touring all regions trying to bring to ordinary citizens a very c...
  • Interview with Andrea Matteo Fontana - Eastern Partnership supporting ‘homegrown’ reforms
    28-11-2012
    The Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative seeks to boost the EU’s relations with its eastern neighbours. The main goal is to support reforms in Eastern European countries and promote closer political association and economic integration with the EU. The EaP offers a range of tangible cooperatio...
  • Adapting steel to conquer the Arctic
    06-11-2012
     Steel is mostly used at temperatures above -20ºС. But what about icebreakers and cargo boats sailing in Arctic regions? And how can you build oil drilling rigs and gas and oil pipelines at temperatures as low as -60°? Russian and European scientists are joining forces to develop new ...
  • Renewable energy Promoting Renewable Energies in Moldova
    24-10-2012
    The Republic of Moldova is one of the few countries in the region which almost entirely depends on imported fuels. The dependency on external energy sources leads to high energy prices and large debts to foreign suppliers. Moldova has great potential to produce energy from its own renewable sources,...
  • Waste: from dumping to recycling
    02-10-2012
    The first step was to produce an inventory of all the refuse dumps in southern Moldova. The next step was to close down the most hazardous ones and modernise those that could continue to be used. At the same time an extensive awareness campaign was launched… As a result, in the last two years...
  • Interview with Holger Standertskjold-Nordenstam - Export Helpdesk, your gateway to European markets
    26-09-2012
    Imagine you own a small company in Tunisia or Moldova and you’re about to take a strategic decision as to whether to export your dried fruit or apples to the European Union. Will the business be profitable? What are the chances of success? The EU’s Export Helpdesk is your first port of c...
  • Mayors pushing for more energy efficiency
    12-09-2012
    Ukraine is effectively the leader of the Covenant of Mayors movement outside the European Union, with Ukrainian mayors increasingly committed to local sustainable energy. As many as twenty five Ukrainian cities have already become signatories of the Covenant of Mayors, the EU initiative bringing to...
  • EuropeAid feature: Rural wholesale markets in Ukraine - directly from the farmer to the consumer
    11-09-2012
    Agriculture is the main source of income for the majority of Ukraine’s rural population. Producers usually sell their goods at poorly organised and often unlicensed wholesale markets, most of which are seasonal. Moreover, producers tend to use outdated technologies for storing and transporting...
  • EuropeAid feature: Peace and capacity building - EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine
    11-09-2012
    Effective border management should facilitate, not hinder, trade and contacts across borders. The EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) was launched in 2005, after a joint request made by Presidents of Moldova and Ukraine. It was a response to smuggling and other illicit cross-...
  • Returning rivers to the fish
    25-07-2012
    Major changes to river ecosystems brought aboutby mankindover the years have had a negative impact on nature’s biodiversity.Rivers have suffered immensely from timber rafting, the construction of various hydraulic facilities, intensive navigation and agriculture. Populations of migratory fish ...
  • Talking about the Neighbourhood - Interview with Commissioner Štefan Füle
    21-06-2012
     EU and Neighbours: a turning point in relations   EU relations with its Neighbours are at a turning point, says Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Commissioner Štefan Füle in an exclusive interview with the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre on the occasion of the release by t...
  • Providing a home for my baby
    20-06-2012
    In Ekaterinburg, every three days or so, a young mother abandons her child after birth, leaving him or her behind in the maternity ward. The key problem is always the same. There is a shortage of temporary residences where lonely, needy and often adolescent mothers can take refuge, pull themselves t...
  • Chisinau working hard to protect itself from flooding
    23-05-2012
    The capital of Moldova, Chisinau, is surrounded by seven hills. Every time there is heavy rain, powerful streams of water rush towards the city centre. The storm sewage system in the city was built in the mid-twentieth century and has never been seriously cleaned up or repaired in the last twenty ye...
  • The shield of the law against the menace of war
    09-05-2012
    They have faced the threat of military conflict in recent years and they know what war means for people, for cultural heritage and for humanity. Two cities, Byblos in Lebanon and Mtskheta in Georgia, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, have recently had to cope with military conflict wreaki...
  • Preserving a natural wonder
    17-04-2012
    Lake Sevan has been fighting an uphill battle to cope with the problem of pollution for decades. Untreated sewage from towns and villages scattered along its borders has been flowing directly into the basin of this high-altitude natural wonder, creating a serious environmental problem. Sewage networ...
  • Interview with Simone Rave - INOGATE in push for more energy investment
    16-04-2012
    The People Behind the Projects -  The ultimate aim of INOGATE is to try to help improve people’s quality of life by providing them with better access to energy resources and contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment. Originally it focused on building up the knowledge base and cap...
  • Regional Information and Communication Programme
    15-04-2012
      The Regional Information and Communication Programme, which runs 2011 to 2014 with a total budget of 14 million euro, aims to improve knowledge of the European Union and its neighbourhood policy. The programme contributes to greater understanding of EU policies and highlights cooperation act...
  • Crumbling avant-garde buildings being given a new lease of life
    03-04-2012
    The fate of dozens of Russian and Ukrainian avant-garde buildings dating back to the 1920s and 1930 is today hanging in the balance. They are often crumbling, generally in a dilapidated state. And yet some of them, such as the Shukhov Tower and Gorky Park in Moscow, are real masterpieces of early So...
  • The young say ‘no’ to corruption
    22-03-2012
    They are selected on a voluntary basis from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. They come to attend courses where they discuss, they study, they learn. They are even asked to conduct opinion polls at the country’s border, or to come up with new ideas to counteract corruption and to raise awar...
  • Supporting budget: Supporting change - Interview with Luca Oriani Vieyra
    05-03-2012
    TALKING ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD EU Budget Support is not a gift. It is a mutually agreed contract aimed at supporting reforms in a jointly agreed sector, explains Luca Oriani Vieyra, responsible for Budget Support, Macro-Fiscal Policy and General Coordination with International Financial Instituti...
  • Interview with Philip Mikos - TRACECA Investment Forum seeks to turn transport blueprints into real transport links
    24-02-2012
    Talking about the Neighbourhood TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia) is a strange animal, points out Philip Mikos, Head of Unit of Regional Programmes Neighbourhood East at the European Commission in an interview with the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre. In a nutshell, it is an EU program...
  • Interview with Eduard Biryukov - Trade and traffic on the rise on the new Silk Road
    24-02-2012
    The People Behind the Projects   The Basic Multilateral Agreement was signed on 8 September 1998, in Baku, Azerbaijan. This document is the most important TRACECA document as it provides the legal basis for the development of economic ties, trade and transport communications in the regions of...
  • The Danube Wreath Festival: Noah’s Arc Odessa Style
    31-01-2012
    Pottery and weaving, embroidery and beadwork, blacksmiths’ works and rag dolls – but also dancing and cooking… From this year on, the 130 nationalities living in the Odessa border area have one more place where they can showcase their crafts, display the products of their extraord...
  • For your wedding, get a trolleybus
    06-12-2011
    There’s a new fashion in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. Instead of a limousine for their wedding, some couples order… a trolleybus – a vehicle also in demand for birthdays, school-leaving parties and other events. A year ago, it would have been unimaginable. Most people treated tr...
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