BRUSSELS. April 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Commission’s (EC) proposal for new macro-financial assistance (MFA) worth EUR 1.8 billion to Ukraine was adopted on April 15, the EC has announced.
It was formalized with the signatures of President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz and of Zanda Kalniņa-Lukasevica, Parliamentary State Secretary for the European Affairs of Latvia, on behalf of the Latvian Presidency of the Council.
This follows the European Parliament’s positive vote and a Council agreement on the new proposal.
According to the EC, the EU and Ukraine will now have to agree on a Memorandum of Understanding.
The Commission says it hopes to conclude this process in the coming weeks, in order to allow for the disbursement of a first tranche of EUR 600 million before the summer break.
The new MFA comes on top of what the EU is already contributing via the State Building contract in terms of humanitarian, project, and technical assistance.
It will also be the third MFA program for Ukraine since 2010. In the course of 2014, the Commission disbursed EUR 1.36 billion under the previous MFA program, with a final tranche of EUR 250 million under MFA 1 to be disbursed this month.
Together, the three MFA operations to Ukraine amount to EUR 3.41 billion, which represents the largest financial assistance to a third country in such a short time.
