European Commission: The coal regions in the Western Balkans and Ukraine exchange programme

The coal regions exchange programme has launched 6 exchanges between regions in the Western Balkans and their EU counterparts. These provide an opportunity for these regions to start one-to-one dialogues and learn from each other’s experiences on moving away from coal as part of the clean energy transition.

14 participating regions
A total of 32 applications representing a diverse geographic spread were submitted for participation in the programme. Based on expert assessments, 14 of these have been paired up with one another to form 6 sets of exchange partners, who are currently preparing their exchanges. A further 2 sets were foreseen, each of them co-led by Ukrainian applicants, but have temporarily been put on hold.

3 exchanges will start in spring 2022, and the detailed planning and preparation of the other 3 will start in the second part of the year. Guided by dedicated exchange facilitators, programme participants are now developing precise roadmaps for their exchanges. These will feature either 1 or 2 in-person visits, which will be planned in advance through virtual interactions and discussions where the regions can solidify their relationship, ideally leading to fruitful cooperation beyond this programme.