By BRUSSELS. Nov 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Commission is considering all possible ways of funding Ukraine, but hopes the Council of the European Union adopts a Ukraine fund, which will disburse the financial aid for Kyiv in 2024-2027.
“Ukraine’s financing gap is likely to remain massive,” European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said after a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).
“From EU’s part, we need to make rapid progress with adopting Ukraine facility,” Dombrovskis said, meaning a special financial instrument devised by the European Commission for helping Ukraine, which requires the approval of all 27 EU members.
“First, we need the Council to approve the facility. Ukraine needs to submit its plan. It needs to be assessed, so all this takes time,” he said.
The EU was Ukraine’s biggest donor this year. Payments under the Macro Financial Assistance Plus program have totaled EUR15 billion in 2023. The latest one was made two weeks ago and two more are due before the end of the year, Dombrovskis said.
The problem begins from the new year, he said. He made it clear there would be no disaster if the facility fails to get approved in due time (because of Hungary’s veto).
“One possible extra revenue stream could come from immobilized Russian assets,” Dombrovskis said.
The European Commission welcomes the G7 agreement reached in Marrakesh last month to examine a possibility of using the extraordinary revenues from frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine, its restoration and reconstruction.
