Brussels, 17/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 17 June, the European Commission, on behalf of the EU, disbursed €500 million to Ukraine, the first of two equal-sized loans from the new EU Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA II) programme for the country. This follows a disbursement of €100 million on 20 May from the previously agreed MFA programme (MFA I, see EUROPE 11083). The goal of both MFA programmes, totalling €1.6 billion, is to help Ukraine restore its balance of payments (see EUROPE 11098).
The aid instalment may be used to buy gas from Russia (see related article). A spokesman for Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn said it was up to Ukraine to decide exactly what it wants to use the money for in terms of meeting its foreign financing requirements.
The remaining tranches of EU aid will be released later this year as long as measures are taken to clean up Ukrainian public finance.
In Bratislava, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said on Monday that the cost of bailing out Greece was peanuts compared to Ukraine's requirements as billions of euro would be required to bail out Ukraine from tax payers, voters, the European Commission, the United States, Canada and the International Monetary Fund. (MB)