Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura has set December as the target date for agreement in the EU Council on a further €18 billion of macrofinancial assistance to cover part of Ukraine’s financing needs in 2023.
If a unanimous agreement of the Member States is reached at the Ecofin Council on Tuesday 6 December, he said on Tuesday 8 November, it will then be possible to pay “as early as January” a significant sum - perhaps €3 billion - to the Ukrainian authorities who will have to face the winter season in a country militarily attacked by Russia.
“We are working with this timetable in mind”, said European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, who confirmed the presentation of a legislative proposal on Wednesday 9 November.
On Tuesday, however, Hungary indicated that it refused to use the margins under the EU budget ceilings (‘headrooms’) at this stage. Some say the country will oppose any European initiative until the Hungarian recovery plan under Next Generation EU is agreed, as is already the case with the transposition of the OECD agreement on minimum taxation of multinationals in the EU.
This option using the EU budget seems to be the quickest way to help Ukraine among other options tested by the Commission and using national public guarantees.
Mr Stanjura urged “all Member States not to look to the past”, stressing the “urgent” needs of the Ukrainian State. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)