This study assesses the potential for the use of hydraulic fracturing in Ukraine, looking into potential impacts and costs as well as putting together the country's experiences with the technology to date. The report highlights the fact that Ukrainian companies have used hydraulic fracturing before the shale gas boom with at least two dozens of companies involved in the drilling. (In Ukraine, no specific rules or laws exist that would regulate the use of this hydraulic fracturing. The activities of relevant companies are governed by laws applicable to conventional oil and gas production.)

The European Semester should be further developed to become an effective governance and enforcement mechanism that can ensure coherence between national fiscal policies and overarching sustainable development objectives. Environmental NGOs have carried out a consultation among their networks of members and national experts and are providing concrete Country Specific Recommendations for 21 Member States as well as the Eurozone in general.

The European Commission President Juncker’s ‘Investment plan for growth and jobs’ is aiming at mobilising EUR 315 billion of additional investments by 2018. A proposed regulation setting up the framework of the EFSI is currently negotiated in the European Parliament and the Council and its adoption is envisaged for June 2015.

This briefing, prepared by Bankwatch, Counter Balance, Friends of the Earth Europe and WWF Europe stresses that this regulation should give clarity on how the fund will contribute to the achievement of EU long-term objectives, its added-value for the EU and the expected benefits for European citizens: all projects benefiting from the fund should explicitly accelerate the transition of Europe’s economies, infrastructure investments should aim at the decarbonisation, decentralization and decrease of energy and transport systems, R&D focusing on the absolute decoupling of resource use and production.

In a bid to help the recession-hit Ukrainian economy, the country’s government has significantly reduced regulatory obligations for businesses and state-owned companies. This includes Ukraine’s nuclear power plants which have been plagued in the recent past by ageing reactors and accidents and whose safety upgrades are receiving support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Euratom. In this letter Ukraine Bankwatch member group is asking the EBRD to pressure the government to ensure that the Ukrainian state nuclear regulator SRNIU is able to carry out inspections of nuclear power plants.