Visiting Commissioner underlines EU support for Ukraine

EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Friday met Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kyiv, discussing a broad range of topics including the next steps of the Ukraine Facility, and the first payment of €4.5 billion, and EU enlargement.

“We had a very fruitful discussion on Ukraine’s economy and next steps for its EU accession. To support Ukraine’s economy during the war, we have proposed to extend autonomous trade measures for Ukrainian imports for another year – until June 2025,” the Commissioner said on X (formerly Twitter).

Speaking at a news conference with Prime Minister Shmyhal, Dombrovskis said: “The Ukraine Facility has now entered into force and it will provide stable and predictable financing for Ukraine for the next four years for the period 2024 to 2027, with a total amount of €50 billion. The European Commission will provide the first payment in the context of the Facility later this month, of €4.5 billion followed by another €1.5 billion in April.”

Regarding Ukraine’s EU accession talks, the Commissioner said, “For next week, we are preparing the draft negotiating frameworks which we will then provide to the EU Member States so that they can adopt the frameworks once the remaining four reforms for accession are taken by Ukraine. There, we commend Ukraine on the good progress made already.”

The European Commissioner reiterated the EU’s support for Ukraine: “The European Union will continue to support Ukraine for whatever it takes. This commitment is as strong as ever as Ukraine enters the third year of this relentless war. Total EU support to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian aggression now amounts to more than €88 billion and we are ready to continue to provide more support.”

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