Draft EU budget for 2025 provides over 15-bln euro in assistance to Ukraine

BRUSSELS. June 19 (Interfax) - The European Commission proposed a draft EU budget for 2025 on Wednesday, which focuses on the "political priorities" of the EU and includes provisions for assistance to Ukraine exceeding 15 billion euro, the EC said in a statement.

EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said that the 2025 budget proposal, thanks to the interim review in February 2024 of the EU's long-term financial plan for 2021-2027, provides an opportunity "to strengthen our position externally." This review will allow the EU to "respond to the consequences" of events in Ukraine, he said.

The draft budget for 2025 "will provide stable and predictable support to Ukraine," the statement said.

"A further 4.3 billion euros will be available in grants under the Ukraine Facility complemented by 10.9 billion euros in loans," it said.

On March 12, the Council of the EU announced in a statement that it agreed on guidelines for the EU's 2025 budget, which provide for "financial relief to Ukraine, for as long as it takes."

"The Council [of the EU] reconfirms that the EU remains committed to providing, along with partners, financial relief to Ukraine, for as long as it takes, and supporting its resilience and long-term reconstruction," the statement said.

It was reported earlier that the 2025 budget will be formed taking into account the revision of the EU financial plan for 2021-2027 approved at the EU summit on February 1. As part of the updated long-term EU budget, 50 billion euros will go to the Ukraine Facility, in particular 17 billion euro in grants and 33 billion euro in loans.

The European Commission proposed an EU budget for 2025 of 199.7 billion euro on June 19. The commission said in a statement that the budget will be supplemented by approximately 72 billion euro in payments under the NextGenerationEU program.