Since 2015, Ukraine has received from the European Union, as well as from EU member states, about EUR 18 billion of assistance, which is many times higher than the amount of financial assistance provided to Kyiv by the United States in the form of loan guarantees in the amount of $1 billion, Special Adviser to the President of the European Commission on relations with Ukraine, former European Parliament deputy from Germany Elmar Brok said.
“The United States has given 1 billion on loan… The European Union has given 11 billion on loan in runs, another 3 billion has been given via international financial institutions [EUR], and alone Germany has given 1.4 billion [EUR]. So, let’s say altogether the European Union member states have given at least EUR 18 billion in the last five years. That is the real figures,” Brok said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on accusations against the EU and, in particular, Germany and France that they are not providing enough assistance to Ukraine which was voiced during a telephone conversation between the presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump.
At the same time, the European politician emphasized that a substantial part of the EUR 18 billion provided to Ukraine by the European Union and its members are grants, while Washington does not provide anything to Kyiv for free.
Brok also recalled that in addition to the amount he mentioned, the European Union also provided other assistance to Ukraine, which is stated in the agreements between Kyiv and Brussels, such as the Association Agreement and the FTA and the visa-free regime between the parties.
“The United States has not given such agreements. Look, the EU gives twenty times more to Ukraine than the Americans,” the special adviser to the president of the European Commission said on relations with Ukraine.
Russia’s Gazprom has boosted gas transit to the European Union through the territory of Ukraine by 25%, by 60 million cubic meters per day, JSC Ukrtransgaz has reported.
This is related to a halt for repairing two lines of Nord Stream.
Head of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has said he doesn’t see any threats to the visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU.
Mingarelli said that he didn’t see any threats, but Ukraine must adhere to its obligations. He said about this at the event of the European business association “New 5 year challenge: Expectations. Hopes. Concerns” on Thursday in response to a question whether he sees any threats to the visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU.
The European Union has called on Ukraine to lift the moratorium on the export of round timber, as well as introduce administrative and institutional reforms and ensure the functioning of an efficient and transparent administrative system. “The EU encouraged Ukraine to continue fighting vested interests in order to improve the business and investment climate and eliminate swiftly trade irritants, such as the wood export ban,” according to the statement following a meeting of the Council of the Ukraine-EU Association, held in Brussels.
“Particular focus should be on effective and timely implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, and to further facilitate trade and eliminate technical barriers to trade, including as regards customs procedures, technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary systems as well as food safety reform, public procurement and the protection of intellectual property rights,” the report says.
“The Ukrainian side reaffirmed its commitments to technical regulation reform, notably the need to speed up adoption of sectoral and horizontal legislation, including in the area of market surveillance,” it says.
The EU pointed out that “Ukraine shall comply with all prerequisites set out in the AA/DCFTA including incorporating the relevant EU acquis into its legislation, making the administrative and institutional reforms and providing the efficient, effective and transparent administrative system, which are indispensable prior to starting ACAA [Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products] negotiations,” it said.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) intends to rescind switching to summer time if the European Union takes the same decision. “If the EU takes a decision to abolish the transition to summer time, the MEDT will apply to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the possibility of making appropriate changes in the procedure for setting time on the territory of Ukraine,” MEDT’s press service said.
At the same time, the press service specified that the economic rationale for the annual transition to summer time and information on changes in electricity consumption from the transition to summer time in the Ministry of Economic Development is not available.
The European Union has decided to issue EUR 15.5 million of budget assistance to Ukraine for the reform of the public administration sector, the press service of the EU Delegation to Ukraine has reported. Based on the results achieved by Ukraine in reforming the public administration sector in 2017, the EU decided to increase assistance to Ukraine in this important area of public policy. Some EUR 15.5 million of the total amount of EUR 90 million that constitute the EU’s commitments to supporting this reform are to be transferred to the national budget of Ukraine for 2018, the agency said. The EU noted this is the second payment after the first tranche of EUR 10 million, which was provided in May 2017.
In addition, the diplomatic mission noted that in 2016 the EU approved a special program of assistance to reform the public administration sector in the amount of EUR 104 million, which provides EUR 90 million for budgetary support and EUR14 million for technical assistance, which is used to provide advisory services to state bodies involved in implementation of the reform.
The decision to send EUR 15.5 million from the EU funds to the national budget of Ukraine for 2018 is our recognition of the tangible progress that Ukraine made in the implementation of the public administration reform, Thomas Frellesen, Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, stated.
Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleksandr Sayenko, in turn, clarified that in accordance with the agreement on financing the program “Support to Comprehensive Reform of Public Administration in Ukraine,” the first part of the tranche is fixed and amounts to EUR 5 million, while the second part depends on the success of the reform implementation, as measured by certain program indicators.
“Thanks to their implementation, the second part of the tranche is EUR 10.5 million. The funds for budget support are transferred to the national budget,” he said. According to the minister, Ukraine has fulfilled 75% of the indicators set for 2017. “Due to the implementation of these and other indicators Ukraine received another tranche,” Sayenko added.
