Dnipropetrovsk region opens office in Brussels

The region of Dnipropetrovsk has opened a representative office to the European Union, becoming the fourth sub-national government or association to take up an offer of office space from the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).

Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, and Petr Blížkovský, secretary-general of the CoR, officially inaugurated the office on 12 October at a ceremony attended by Ambassador Vsevolod Chentsov, head of Ukraine's mission to the European Union, and Andriy Sadovyi, mayor of Lviv, Tetyana Yehorova-Lutsenko, president of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils, and Vitaly Bezgin, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

Representation in Brussels will give the region of Dnipropetrovsk to increase its outreach to EU institutions as it tries to meet the challenges of ensuring basic services during a war, starting reconstruction, and developing long-term recovery and development plans aligned with Ukraine's efforts to join the EU.

The region has historically been the second-largest contributor to Ukraine's economy, behind the region of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. The region's major population centre, Dnipro, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city and a major centre of engineering and heavy industry as well as an important transport hub.

Earlier in the week, on 11 October, Mr Lukashuk, Mr Sadovyi and Ms Yehorova-Lutsenko had addressed the plenary session of the CoR in a debate about Ukraine's reconstruction.

In May 2023, Lviv became the first Ukrainian city to set up a representative office in Brussels, taking up an offer of office space under the CoR 10 point support package for Ukraine. The All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, the city of Vinnitsya and – since 13 October – Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council now have offices in the CoR.