Photo by Glib Albovsky on Unsplash
The EU Commission says it is allocating a further €4.1 billion under its Ukraine Facility to support the functioning of Ukraine’s public administration during the ongoing bitter war with Russia.
This will bring to €16.1 billion the total funds disbursed in 2024 in support of the EU’s Ukraine Plan.
It comes with the war with Russia showing no signs of abating.
The Commission concluded that Ukraine had satisfactorily fulfilled the nine agreed reform indicators for the latest cash payment.
These reforms cover areas such the fight against corruption, business environment, labour market, regional policy, energy market and environmental protection.
Speaking on Wednesday, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “This positive assessment by the Commission of Ukraine’s €4.1 billion payment request is further proof both of Europe’s steadfast commitment to Ukraine, and of the country’s impressive progress in driving forward important reforms to advance on its EU path while fighting an atrocious war.”
Accomplished steps for this payment request include:
- Increased capacity to fight corruption: Ukraine has increased the staff of the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), as well as amended the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to increase the efficiency of fighting corruption. In particular, the legal framework of plea bargaining was significantly improved;
- Improved asset recovery: Ukraine has adopted an Action Plan for the implementation of the Asset Recovery Strategy for 2023-2025. It outlines a number of measures in line with international best practice, such as reforming the legal confiscation mechanism, asset return, tracing and identification ; and,
- Improved regulatory environment: Ukraine, says the EC, has adopted an Action Plan to ease the burden on businesses by reviewing and removing overlapping regulations, deregulating economic activities and digitising administrative procedures.
The move also recognises electricity market reform and a new law on the prevention, reduction and control of industrial pollution.
The EU’s €50 billion Ukraine Facility, provided in grants and loans for the period 2024-2027, supports Ukraine’s efforts to sustain macro-financial stability, promote short-term recovery.
It also aims to help rebuild and modernise the country whilst implementing key structural reforms to advance on Ukraine’s EU path.
So far, €15.6 billion has been mobilised across the three pillars of the Ukraine Facility, of which €12.06 billion have been already disbursed to Ukraine in the light of progress with the implementation of the Ukraine Plan.
