The European Commission expects to prepare for the first disbursement of the €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine "as soon as possible in the second quarter," said European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari during a briefing on Tuesday, UNN reports.
Of course, I cannot commit to very specific deadlines, but I would say that the goal is to complete all remaining work as quickly as possible so that we can prepare for the first disbursement within the second quarter, and even as soon as possible in the second quarter.
"We know what is at stake. We know that time is of the essence. Therefore, we are doing everything possible to complete the negotiations as quickly as possible," he added.
According to the spokesman, progress is being made step by step on this issue. "There are three documents that, from a technical point of view, we are discussing and working on very intensively. One of them is the Microfinance Assistance Program, which will be supported by a memorandum of understanding," he noted.
"This is what we are discussing with our Ukrainian colleagues. Work in this direction is progressing very well... On the other hand, we will also use the Ukraine Facility to distribute part of the so-called budget support to Ukraine," Ujvari continued.
"And in this regard, we need to update the Ukraine Plan. And work in this direction is also progressing very intensively," he noted.
"And the third element in question is really the loan agreement, which again requires bilateral exchanges between us and Ukraine. And these exchanges are taking place," the European Commission spokesman said.
"As we have already said, we have done all the technical work on our part to ensure that as soon as all the steps are taken, we will not waste time. Therefore, on our part, we have already taken a number of steps. So indeed, as soon as the Council (of the EU) makes the relevant decision, we will be able to move forward without delay to the next steps in terms of distributing the loan amounts to Ukraine," Ujvari emphasized.