A loan of up to 35 billion euros: EU will not tell Ukraine what to spend the money on - Dombrovskis 27 September 2024
Kyiv • UNN
The EU will provide Ukraine with a loan of up to €35 billion to cover general budgetary needs without setting specific spending targets. Frozen Russian assets will serve as collateral for the loan.
With a loan of up to EUR 35 billion from the EU, Ukraine will be able to cover its general budgetary needs. At the same time, there are no specific goals for which Ukraine will be able to spend the loan. This was announced by the Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, who was quoted by the Baltic News Network , UNN reported.
Details
Answering a question about how Ukraine will be allowed to spend the 35 billion euros allocated in loans, Dombrovskis said that Ukraine will be able to cover its general budgetary needs with this money.
At the same time, it is not expected to set any specific goals for which Ukraine will be able to spend the loan.
He indicated that Russian assets frozen in European countries would to some extent serve as collateral for a planned European Commission loan to Ukraine of up to 35 billion euros.
If the initial idea was that the frozen Russian assets generate some income, and this income gradually becomes the property of Ukraine, now we issue a loan based on these assets as collateral, and Ukraine immediately gets access to large financial resources
It is also planned to change the procedure according to which the decision to extend the freezing of Russian assets is made every six months. According to Dombrovskis, this may happen much less frequently, once every three years, provided that the member states can agree on such a change in the procedure. Currently, it seems that Hungary may oppose this, so discussions are expected, the politician said.
In this context, Dombrovskis pointed to the decision of the G7 summit that Russian assets should remain frozen until Russia pays reparations to Ukraine. "Thus, both Russian reparations, if any, and this cash flow from frozen Russian assets, which we will also send to Ukraine, can be used for these payments," said the European Commission Executive Vice President.
Asked how he assesses the possibility of gaining Hungarian support for these ideas, Dombrovskis said that the proposal to provide an EC loan to Ukraine is generally still new, and discussions have just begun, so it is too early to predict how the negotiations will progress and how Hungary will position itself on this issue.
When asked about the total amount of Russian assets frozen in Europe, the politician said that it could exceed 200 billion euros.
Recall
Last week, EC President Ursula von der Leyen announced in Kyiv that the European Commission would provide Ukraine with a loan of up to 35 billion euros within the framework of the G7 commitments.