The Council of Europe will continue to provide expert and technical support to Ukraine, including in the media sphere. This was said by Olena Lytvynenko, acting head of the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, during the presentation of the new project "Protection of Freedom of Speech and Media Freedom (SFEM-UA) in Ukraine" on June 13 in Kyiv.

Mrs. Lytvynenko thanked for the previous fruitful years of cooperation with national partners and spoke about the launch of a new project, which is implemented within the framework of the Action Plan of the Council of Europe in Ukraine.

"Without your hard work, the significant results that Ukraine has in the sector of media and freedom of speech, access to information would not have been achieved. We are proud of these results. The Council of Europe was happy to support you on this path," she said.

According to her, the new project by its goals is a continuation of the activity that was carried out and supported by the Council of Europe in the past. At the same time, the project will take into account the realities of today, in particular, the large-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. It will help fight the consequences of the war - on the one hand, on the other - it will help Ukraine make progress on the way to becoming a member of the European Union. In particular, this applies to the implementation of the law on media.

"The action plan for Ukraine, which was approved by the Committee of Ministers, is extremely ambitious, it is the largest in terms of its funding (€50 million) and directions. It is for four years. One of the goals is to help Ukraine implement the seven requirements defined by the European Union for acquiring the status of a member state. And this assistance will be key from the Council of Europe, which will provide expert and technical support to Ukraine. We have already received funding from 19 donor member countries. We currently have about 13 million. This once again proves that Ukraine has unprecedented support. Ukraine is a priority country for the Council of Europe. Recently, an important decision was made in Reykjavík to establish an international register of damages. Media support is extremely important. We will be happy to continue to cooperate with you on the implementation of the law on media", said Olena Lytvynenko.

The presentation of the project took place during the first meeting of the steering committee of the project "Protection of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Media (SFEM-UA) in Ukraine". The head of the Department of Information Society, General Directorate for Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe Patrick Penninks , Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy Taras Shevchenko, program manager of the Department of Cooperation in the Field of Freedom of Speech of the Department of Information Society Shain Abbasov delivered welcoming words. Program manager/advisor of the project "Protection of Freedom of Speech and Media Freedom (SFEM-UA) in Ukraine" Leyla Zhdanova introduced the members of the steering committee and the project itself, which was headed by Olena Demchenko.

The project is the first stage of a four-year program, it will last two years (2023-2024). Its purpose is to meet the urgent needs of the main stakeholders and participants of the media market in Ukraine during the ongoing war. As well as promoting a pluralistic media environment in Ukraine by harmonizing the legal framework and policies in accordance with European standards.