The funds are part of a larger financial support package for kyiv that is still being discussed by members of the bloc.
The European Council approved on Tuesday an additional loan of 1,000 million euros to Ukraine “as a matter of urgency” and promised to provide kyiv with more help “in the coming months.” According to the council statement, the EU’s total macro-financial support to kyiv since the end of February, when Moscow launched its military operation in the neighboring country, now reaches 2.2 billion euros.
The loan is supposed togive Ukraine the necessary funds to cover urgent needs and ensure the functioning of critical infrastructure,”, Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said.
The Czech Republic currently chairs the Council of the EU.
European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis praised the decision, saying that as “Ukraine is an economy at war”, it’s “serious needs” short-term assistance.
“The EU is there to help,Dombrovskis wrote.
EU divided over support for Ukraine – kyiv
The European Parliament approved the allocation of funds on July 7.
The aid will be released once a memorandum of understanding is agreed with the Ukrainian authorities.
The loan is part of the “highly concessional” long-term loan package that the European Commission proposed on May 18. The 9,000 million euros “complement the significant short-term relief provided so far, with exceptional new macro-financial assistance” for Ukraine, explained at the time the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
However, according to Corriere della Sera, Germany has been blocking the aid package for more than a month. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner does not like the fact that Brussels is offering to finance aid to Ukraine with the common European debt, says the Italian media, adding that, for now, Berlin has only agreed to approve a tranche of 1,000 million euros.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko, in an interview with Corriere della Sera on Monday, confirmed that EU members disagree on how they should support Ukraine, with some of them believing that 9 billion euros it’s too much. Marchenko also said that while Ukraine needs 5 billion euros ($5.05 billion) every month, kyiv has been receiving much less so far. These comments come after he announced in mid-May that Ukraine may have to resort to “painful” measures to save the economy in the midst of the conflict with Russia. At the time, he warned that the government might have to raise taxes, cut spending and nationalize certain companies.