Ukraine Facility is active - Ukraine received another 1.5 billion euros

Ukraine received the second, April tranche under the Ukraine Facility program in the amount of 1.5 billion euros. As confirmed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, if the EU approves the plan for Ukraine under the Ukraine Facility, we will receive EUR 1.89 billion in June, EUR 4.11 billion in September, and another EUR 4 billion in November.

Currently, the Ukraine Facility program provides Ukraine with budgetary and investment support, as well as technical assistance. Ukraine must report quarterly on each item of the program. Before the full approval of the action plan for Ukraine, it will be able to receive about 9 billion euros from the 50 billion provided by the program. It is known that 1 billion euros are planned to be directed to support regional needs for the recovery of the country and continued support for the decentralization policy. Also, 1 billion euros will be directed to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

It is worth noting the words of the president of the European Commission, who believes that Ukraine "carries a heavy burden" for all European countries. And many people understand this well and help with actions. In particular, Denmark decided to popularize Ukrainian products in its own supermarkets.

We will remind you that a few days ago, the European Commission approved the plan for launching the Ukraine Facility program and suggested that the EU Council adopt the document. Currently, EU members must adopt the proposed implementation decision within a month. In fact, for the first time, Ukraine received a comprehensive economic development plan for the coming years. This plan is aimed at creating conditions for economic development and European integration in many areas of the country's life.

It should be added that, according to experts, the potential losses of the Ukrainian economy from the strengthening of protective measures for exports to the EU may amount to approximately €300 million. As Oleksandr Avramenko, head of the committee on European integration of the association "Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business", noted in a UNN commentary, in the EU previously agreed to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU until June 5, 2025, while strengthening protective measures for sensitive agricultural products. The new automatic safeguard mechanism will oblige the European Commission to re-impose tariff quotas if imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, cereals and honey exceed the arithmetic average of the volumes imported in the second half of 2021, 2022 and 2023. One of the biggest difficulties we may face is the lack of predictability, because the calculation of the critical volume of imports by the EU begins on January 1, 2024, and it is still unknown what the final volume of critical imports will be.

In general, experts believe that Ukraine's position should be taken into account in the new agricultural policy of the EU. As Oleg Khomenko, general director of the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club, noted during the Black Sea Grain 2024 conference. According to him, no less turbulent times await Ukraine on the way to European integration and work with the EU. After all, parliamentary elections to the European Parliament will soon be held, the appointment of a new member of the European Commission and, plus, the presidency of the Council of the EU will be held by Hungary from July, and from January by Poland.