Agnes Szucs
23 May 2022•Update: 23 May 2022
BRUSSELS
EU leaders are expected at an upcoming summit to approve EU credit to provide an additional €9 billion ($9.6 billion) in macro-financial assistance for Ukraine, the European Commission vice president said on Monday.
The EU needs “to move forward quickly” in granting Ukraine assistance to cover the country's short-term needs, Maros Sefcovic told a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers ahead of next week’s extraordinary EU leaders' summit.
“We hope that the European Council will be able to invite the (European) Commission to borrow up to €9 billion at financial markets in order to help Ukraine,” Sefcovic said.
He also said he expects EU leaders to give the mandate for the EU executive body to work out the details of an international donation platform for Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction.
Sefcovic also expressed hope that the European heads of state and government will endorse the European Commission’s recent strategy on joint arms procurements and cutting Russian energy dependency by accelerating the green transition.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen last week announced an extra €9 billion in macro-financial assistance package for Ukraine.
The EU executive also developed plans to reduce dependence on Russian energy and cut gas imports by two-thirds by the end of this year by accelerating the green transition into renewables and securing fossil fuel supply from new partners, including the US and the Middle East.
Since the war began on Feb. 24, the EU has allocated €2 billion in military aid to Ukraine and mobilized more than €4 billion in macro-financial assistance, humanitarian aid, and support to EU countries hosting refugees from Ukraine.
It has also adopted five sets of sanctions against Russia, targeting individuals including President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as banning exports of luxury goods, and coal imports, and excluding Russian and Belarusian banks from using the SWIFT international payment system.
