Following a request by the Ukrainian authorities, the European Commission on Friday 9 March proposed a new macro-financial assistance programme worth €1 billion for Ukraine.
Direct discussions between the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, allowed the proposal to be made official. The Vice-President of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that they were “counting on the European Parliament and member states”, whose approvals are necessary to translate the announcement into action.
This solidarity must go hand in hand with a continued commitment from the Ukrainian authorities to an ambitious reform agenda to ensure a stable and prosperous Ukraine, Dombrovskis added. The payments will be conditional on the implementation of a number of additional structural reforms and an intensification of the fight against corruption.
On 28 February, the Commission referred to four conditions that were not met by Ukraine under the previous programme: the establishment of a mechanism to verify statements of ministers' income, the validation of data made available by Ukrainian businesses concerning their shareholders, a lift on the ban on exporting Ukrainian wood and the opening of a central credit register. The failure to set these reforms in place prevented the final tranche of the previous programme from being paid out. They must imperatively have been carried out before the first instalment of the new macro-financial assistance programme is forthcoming.
Micro-financial assistance is designed as an exceptional instrument to react to crisis, which is made available to the EU's neighbours facing serious problems with their balance of payments.
This new assistance programme will be the fourth of its kind in favour of Ukraine. It will bring the total European contribution to €13.8 billion since Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.
In this context, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, will visit Ukraine on 11 and 12 March (see EUROPE 11976). (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal, trainee)