The European Commission is ready to assess Ukraine’s amendments to the reform plan necessary to receive funding
The European Commission announced its readiness to assess the amendments that Ukraine made to the “Ukraine Plan” — a document that defines the list of reforms necessary to receive funding from the EU within the framework of the Ukraine Facility program. About this reported Guillaume Mercier, spokesman for the European Commission.
As the EC representative noted, the introduction of changes to the plan is due to “objective circumstances” and is directly provided for by the regulation on the financial support mechanism of Ukraine. He explained that during the first evaluation of the “Ukraine Plan” in 2024, the Council of the EU assumed that the war would end by the end of the current year. The same scenario was the basis of the IMF’s extended financing mechanism.
“Given the continuation of the conflict, it would be understandable if, due to objective circumstances, it was decided to make certain changes to the Plan”, — Mercier added.
The spokesman noted that Ukraine has the right to submit an official request to change the plan, in accordance with the prescribed procedural order.
“The Commission will consider this request and, based on its assessment, may propose to the Council to make changes to the Plan,” Mercier explained.
According to him, the European Commission positively evaluates the previous “constructive and informal consultations” that Ukraine conducted before submitting the official proposal.
“We are ready to evaluate the final version of the proposal for changes submitted by Ukraine”, – summed up the spokesman.
We will remind you that on August 1, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to update the “Ukraine Plan”, explaining it by the need to “update commitments”. The government announced that the updated document should be approved by the EU Council by the end of September. From the beginning of 2024, the main instrument of financial assistance to Ukraine from the European Union has become the Ukraine Facility program, with a volume of 50 billion euros.
Starting from the second quarter of 2024, the provision of EU funds is tied to the implementation of reforms by Ukraine. Each quarter is accompanied by set indicators — changes or decisions that Kyiv must implement. In order to formalize its obligations, the government prescribed all the steps and deadlines for their implementation in a document called “Ukraine’s Plan”.
