In March 2019 we began what will be a series of monthly focus group meetings on key aspects of the Association Agreements and DCFTAs between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Focus group sessions will be held in each of the three capitals with a range of stakeholders (government, business, civil society, etc.) using a standardized questionnaire. The focus groups are organised and moderated by our partners in the three capitals: IER in Kyiv, Expert-Grup in Chisinau and Reformatics in Tbilisi.
The objective is to get fresh views on how the Association Agreements and DCFTAs are progressing in practice. This may lead to recommendations to policymakers in the
three capitals and the EU institutions. While the views of individual participants are treated as confidential, reports are published drawing together a synthesis of the findings.
Focus Group No 5 concerned energy policy, took place in October 2019, and was organised around six questions submitted to participants in advance. Written and oral replies to the questions were collected, and are reported on below.
There were between 10 and 18 participants in the three country sessions, consisting of representatives of the government departments and regulatory authorities, business interests in the production and distribution of energy and think tanks/NGOs.