The EU is preparing the next wave of sanctions against the Russian Federation, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said.
“We can never match the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people, never can we match that, but we are mobilizing our economic power to make Putin pay a very, very heavy price. We have as you said imposed five waves of unprecedented sanctions against Russia and we are already preparing the next wave,” von der Leyen said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday.
The European Commission (EC) welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s determination to fight the deeply rooted influence of vested oligarchic interests on the country’s life and expects the next steps in this direction.
The European Commission said this to the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Friday commenting the adoption of the law on de-oligarchisation by the Verkhovna Rada.
“We welcome President Zelensky’s determination to address the deeply rooted influence of vested oligarchic interests in the political and economic life of Ukraine,” the European Commission said.
The diplomats in Brussels underscored the adoption of the bill “On the prevention of threats to national security associated with the excessive influence of persons with significant economic or political heft in public life (oligarchs)” at the second reading in the Verkhovna Rada on 23 September. “This is a step forward. We expect the law to be implemented fully and with determination, in a legally sound manner. We believe that in addition to the implementation of the adopted law, more steps are needed, in particular to close Ukraine’s institutional gaps, to achieve the desired de-oligarchizing effect,” they noted.
At the same time the European Commission stressed that Ukraine “invested a lot of efforts into closing the space for corrupt practicing, by i.a. cleaning the banking sector and ensuring transparency of the public procurement.” “We encourage to continue these efforts in others sectors prone to corrupt practices,” the diplomats said.
They are convinced that “strengthening of planned and existing institutions (such as the rule of law authorities, including the court system; the Anti-Monopoly Committee; the public broadcaster; an independent press regulator among others) should stand at the heart of this fight to consolidate the rule of law, shore up the trust of Ukrainian citizens in public institutions and, not least, to unleash Ukraine’s economic potential for the benefit of all people of Ukraine.”
The European Council confirms that the ambassadors of the EU member states have decided to recommend including Ukraine in the list of countries for which restrictive measures imposed on travel to the EU due to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can be lifted.
The press service of the European institution said it confirms that the relevant decision was made today by the ambassadors. Further, by the end of the week, it will be formalized in a written procedure.
The list of countries for which it is recommended to be allowed to travel to the EU is reviewed every two weeks and updated as the case may be. Previously, Armenia, Moldova and Azerbaijan were included in it.
The initiative for coal regions in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, led by the European Commission, will help them attract funding from a number of international financial institutions (IFIs), according to the announcement of the annual meeting of the initiative on June 23-25, made by the Delegation of the European Union in Ukraine. “The aim of the event is to support open, multi-stakeholder dialogue on coal phase out and just transition towards sustainable energy sources in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine,” according to the announcement.
As noted in the EU Delegation, “the initiative will help coal regions access financing for transition projects or programmes, based on various sources available from the European Commission, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank.”
In addition, the initiative contains four other pillars of support. This is a comprehensive stakeholder dialogue, an exchange program between coal mining regions, trainings by the Coal Region Learning Academy and technical assistance.
As stated on the website of the European Commission, the initiative for coal regions with economies in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine was launched in December 2020 and aims to help countries and regions move from coal to a carbon-neutral economy. It will support coal regions in the EU’s neighboring countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.
The initiative is managed by the European Commission and collaborates with six international partners: the World Bank, the Energy Community Secretariat, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management of Poland (NFOSiGW), and the College of Europe in Natolin.
President of the European Council Charles Michel started his visit to Ukraine on Tuesday morning, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said.
“The President of the European Council has landed in Kharkiv. Two days in Ukraine: visiting the line of contact, honouring the memory of the victims of Maidan, seeing EU COVID-assistance in practice, discussions with [Volodymyr] Zelensky on reforms and association, participation in Ukraine 30 forum on judicial reform,” Maasikas said on Twitter on Tuesday.
The European Commission, on behalf of the European Union, has disbursed EUR 600 million to Ukraine under its coronavirus (COVID-19) related macro-financial assistance (MFA) programme.
The European Commission’s press service said this on Wednesday.
Commenting on the payout, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said: “Ukraine remains high on the European agenda. It is our neighbourhood country and it belongs to Europe. We are committed to offering political, financial and technical support, especially during this time of crisis as a response to COVID-19 pandemic and overcome the social and economic consequences,” the press service said, citing Dombrovskis.
He also said that this EUR 600 million first tranche of emergency macro-financial assistance “confirms the EU’s solidarity with Ukraine and our continued close cooperation.” “I offer my best wishes to Ukraine’s government for 2021 in carrying through its reform agenda, to improve living standard, continue fighting against corruption and bring Ukraine closer to the EU,” the EC Vice President said.
The European Commission said that this disbursement will contribute to macro-financial stability in Ukraine, “while allowing it to allocate resources towards mitigating the severe negative socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.”
As reported, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ukrainian government and the EC in the summer, followed by its ratification in the middle of September, as well as after Ukraine’s resumption of participation in continuing cooperation under the IMF program in recent weeks.
