The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced the disbursement of the first tranche of €50 billion in aid to Ukraine. This aid is part of an international effort to support Ukraine in times of war and economic hardship. The decision was made at a meeting of the European Commission.
The European Commission has transferred to Ukraine the first tranche of macro-financial budgetary assistance in the amount of 4.5 billion euros from the “Ukraine Fund”, the total amount of which is 50 billion euros. This was announced by the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, at a briefing in Brussels on Wednesday following the results of the Ukraine-EU Association Council, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
He noted that the first tranche, as expected, amounted to 4.5 billion euros.
"Today we also made the first payment of €4.5 billion from the Ukraine Fund - our €50 billion package to support the recovery, reconstruction and modernisation of Ukraine," Borrell said.
According to him, on Thursday, March 20, the European Council will discuss how to accelerate Ukraine's accession to the EU.
On February 22, the European Parliament supported the decision to allocate 50 billion euros to Ukraine. The European Council stated that out of the 50 billion euros, 33 billion will be loans and another 17 billion euros will be grants. The mechanism itself for Ukraine will consist of three main components.
Back on February 6, 2024, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a preliminary agreement on a new support mechanism for Ukraine. Their statement stated that the new mechanism would consolidate support for Ukraine from the EU budget into a single instrument, providing the country with consistent, predictable and flexible assistance for the period 2024-2027, adapted to the unprecedented challenges arising from the war.
On February 27, the European Parliament voted to provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros in aid. 536 MEPs voted in favor of the decision. 40 lawmakers spoke out against the proposal.
