RIGA: To help Ukraine in a continuous battle against Russia-backed rebels, the EU has decided to give country 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion).
European Commission Head Jean-Claude Juncker announced the plan, adding that the amount in medium-term loans will help Ukraine meet the “critical challenges” it faces and support the political and economic reforms the European Union believes are crucial to its future.
“The Commission has decided to extend its financial assistance” to Ukraine with “an additional sum of 1.8bn euros”, Juncker told reporters in the Latvian capital Riga.
The bloc’s 28 members and the European Parliament must still approve the additional loans.
Commission members were in the Baltic state to mark Latvia’s turn at the helm of the rotating EU presidency, which it assumed on January 1. “Ukraine is not alone. Europe stands united behind Ukraine and the reform agenda of the new government,” Juncker said in the Commission statement. “The European Union has provided unprecedented financial support and today’s proposal proves that we are ready to continue providing that support.”
EU foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini later added: “We have also said and will continue to say that the financial assistance is linked to their willingness to make reforms.” “It is clear that we need to see this commitment to reforms and some results,” she said at another press conference in Riga, citing corruption as an example.
The EU has already released 1.36bn euros in loans to Ukraine to rescue the almost bankrupt Kiev government.
