22.04.2025

Lessons from cross-border cooperation to prepare municipalities for EU accession

Cross-border projects funded by the European Union serve as an excellent training ground for communities to prepare for accessing European funds that will become available to Ukrainian communities after EU accession. In fact, these projects are already implementing specific EU policies, standards, and approaches to local development in Ukraine. Moreover, the same approaches to project administration, monitoring, evaluation, transparency, procurement, and communication of results are applied to cross-border projects.

In this article, we have compiled key lessons from nearly 20 years of Ukrainian communities’ participation in European cross-border projects.

Key takeaways from the final day of the course “EU Integration: Impact and Opportunities for Communities” by the  Сities4Сities initiative and the Swedish-Ukrainian Polaris Programme  “Supporting Multilevel Governance in Ukraine.”

Lecturers:  Yuliia Hrytsku, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, and Ihor Popadiuk, Director of the Department of Investment Policy, Projects, International Relations, Tourism, and Promotion of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council;

Author: Marta Suprun

Available EU financial opportunities for Ukrainian communities were previously outlined in an article by Cities4Cities.

Lesson 1: Build long-term partnerships

Partnership is one of the core principles of EU regional policy, enabling the resolution of common problems and overcoming challenges.

To find partners for projects, various platforms and venues can be used, including:

Networking events and forums, such as annual Interreg meetings, ENI CBC events, and other programmes, as well as industry conferences and seminars on international cooperation, are also valuable.

The success of a project largely depends on the effectiveness of communication with partners. Therefore, it is important to maintain personal contact with partners, understand differences in working cultures, and overcome language barriers. Systemic and effective communication can be facilitated by online tools such as MS Teams, Slack, Asana, Trello, and regular online meetings.

It is also crucial to work with partners to overcome administrative barriers that lead to delays and reduced project efficiency. These barriers often arise due to differences in the legislation of partner countries, complex approval procedures, and lengthy bureaucratic processes, such as obtaining permits and licences for construction.

To effectively address administrative barriers for project implementation, the following are key: 

  • Forming a single coordination group with representatives from all partners.
  • Engaging external legal consultants to expedite processes.
  • Agreeing on procedures at the project application stage.

Lesson 2: Ensure financial sustainability of projects

Cross-border projects often face challenges that can slow down or even halt their implementation. The most common include:

  • Payment delays – EU grants are disbursed in tranches, but payment approval processes can take up to 6 months.
  • Currency risks – fluctuations in the euro and national currencies may require budget adjustments.
  • Co-financing requirements – most programmes require partners to contribute their own funds (10-20%).

To overcome potential difficulties, it is essential to always create a reserve budget (10-15% of the total amount), seek additional funding sources where possible, and prepare alternative financing scenarios in case of payment delays.

In practice, the experience of Ivano-Frankivsk, which is currently implementing projects worth over UAH 146 million, with the largest share coming from European Union funds, shows that implementing a project requires 50-60% of its total cost in working capital. To this end, the city annually allocates funds in its budget. After reporting and project implementation, these funds are returned to the city’s account. In effect, the city allocates a third of its development budget to co-financing projects.

Lesson 3: Develop and retain a team of project managers

Most Ukrainian communities demonstrate limited capacity to participate in cross-border cooperation programmes. A spontaneous survey of participants in the Cities4Cities | United4Ukraine international cooperation course in January 2024 showed that only 15% of the community representatives present at the course who participated in the survey (120 individuals) have English-speaking project managers in their teams.

Overall, due to the war in Ukraine, there is a shortage of qualified labour. At the same time, salaries for local self-government officials are uncompetitive compared to those in the private sector or international organisations. Unlike many European countries, Ukraine lacks legal mechanisms to pay salaries to officials involved in implementing projects funded by international projects. This puts potential Ukrainian applicants at a disadvantage compared to applicants from EU countries and generally reduces communities’ opportunities to develop and implement projects.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted in the first reading for the draft “Law on Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine to Stimulate the Participation of State Bodies and Local Self-Government Bodies in the Implementation of International Technical Assistance Programmes and Cross-Border Cooperation Projects”, which aims to address this issue. However, the draft law has not yet been finally approved.

In the meantime, if projects need to be implemented today, an alternative solution could be to follow Ivano-Frankivsk’s example by creating positions for project inspectors in communities. These inspectors are not officials and are hired to work on specific projects. This format allows communities to meet the requirement of most programmes that project staff be employed by the organisation implementing the project.

Lesson 4: Support at the national level is needed

The effective use of European Union funds by communities and regions is a direct interest of the state, which is why most European countries create special mechanisms to encourage potential applicants to participate in project competitions.

The most significant form of state support for applicants is the creation of Revolving Funds, which allow project beneficiaries to access interest-free funds for project implementation. After project completion and successful reporting, the organisations that implemented the project and received an EU tranche return these funds to the fund. In Montenegro, for instance, starting such a fund required only EUR 2 million. Considering the size of the countries and financing opportunities, around EUR 20 million would be sufficient to establish such a fund in Ukraine.

Additionally, many beneficiaries receiving EU funding often face administrative barriers during implementation, and an important step would be to create a consultative body to provide guidance to communities. 

About the course

The course from Cities4Cities “EU Integration: Impact and Opportunities for Communities” will provide confidence on this topic for everyone participating in European-level events and help conduct negotiations with international partners more effectively while clearly formulating development priorities for the coming years.

The course is supported by Sweden’s flagship programme for Ukraine Polaris “Supporting Multilevel Governance in Ukraine”.

Cities4Cities | United4Ukraine are partner initiatives that joined forces in September 2022. Cities4Cities was founded by the city of Sindelfingen (Germany) under the patronage of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. United4Ukraine was initiated by SALAR International and the city of Lviv, with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Since 2024, Cities4Cities | United4Ukraine has been part of Sweden’s flagship programme for Ukraine Polaris “Supporting Multilevel Governance in Ukraine”.