EU to extend trade defense measures for Ukraine, may disburse second tranche of macrofinancial assistance in late March

BRUSSELS. March 14 (Interfax) - The European Union (EU) extends to another year the trade defense measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU known as autonomous trade measures.

"As a sign of solidarity with Ukraine, we have proposed renewing the suspension of import duties, quotas and trade defense measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year. And we are working on deepening Ukraine's integration into the EU single market," European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday after a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin).

Besides, it is planned to send to Kiev the second tranche of emergency financial assistance in late March.

"Regarding the EU's emergency financial support for Ukraine, the second disbursement under the Macro-Financial Assistance Plus instrument, 1.5 billion euros, is due to be made later this month," Dombrovskis said, adding that the total financial support to Ukraine's budget in the first quarter of this year will reach 4.5 billion euro as a result.

Dombrovskis said he had spoken about the situation with the implementation of reforms in Ukraine needed for the disbursement of the second tranche at the Ecofin meeting. The European Commission is "at the final stages of assessing the conditions for making a decision," he said.

In April 2022, the European Commission suggested suspending for one year import duties on all Ukrainian export to the EU.

In December 2022, the Council of the EU approved a decision on 18 billion euros in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine for 2023 with a 10-year grace period.

Kiev received the first tranche of three billion euro in January. The following disbursements, 1.5 billion euro each, have been made monthly since March.