27 EU finance ministers have given the green light to a new five billion euro aid to Ukraine to help it deal with the consequences of the war, AFP and Agerpres report.
The loan aid, proposed on Wednesday by the European Commission, is the second tranche of a maximum package of nine billion for 2022 announced in May by the President of the European Executive, Ursula von der Leyen.
“The new loan of 5 billion euros will be used for the day-to-day functioning of the (Ukrainian) state and the country’s main infrastructures, such as schools and hospitals,” Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said after a meeting in Prague. colleagues from the EU.
On July 12, the 27 approved the first aid of one billion euros under this “macro-financial assistance”. This amount was spent at the beginning of August.
On Friday, Stanjura promised that he was making efforts “to quickly reach an agreement on the provision of the outstanding three billion euros”.
Financial assistance may not be enough
Member countries are divided over methods of financing this sum, which is delaying the process. “We must agree on the distribution between loans and subsidies,” admitted the Czech minister, whose country has been presiding over the EU Council for six months since July.
The nine billion euros pledged by the EU are part of a larger international effort, supported in particular by the US and other G7 countries, which totals 39 billion.
But this amount would not be enough, as it was calculated based on the assumption that Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine will end in August, the European diplomat believes.
It does not take into account the enormous needs for the reconstruction of the country. On Friday, the World Bank put the “current” cost of that reconstruction at 349 billion euros, saying it would “increase further in the coming months as the war drags on.”
Macro-financial assistance is assistance that the EU provides to neighboring countries facing serious balance of payments problems, complementing assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
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Source: Hot News RO
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