Council of EU, European Parliament reach provisional agreement on 50 bln euro Ukraine Facility

BRUSSELS. Feb 6 (Interfax) - The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament announced they reached a provisional agreement early Tuesday on a 50 billion euro facility to support Ukraine in 2024-2027.

"The EU is prepared to support Ukraine as long as needed. The Ukraine Facility will allow us to channel consistent and predictable support to Ukraine [...]. At the same time the support will help Ukraine take forward the reforms and modernization efforts needed for it to advance on its path towards future EU membership," the Council of the EU quoted Vincent van Peteghem, finance minister of Belgium, which is currently holding the Council of the EU presidency, as saying.

The Council and the Parliament reached a provisional agreement "on setting up a new single dedicated instrument to support Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction and modernization, while supporting its efforts to carry out reforms as part of its accession path to the EU," it said.

With a total budget of 50 billion euros, the Ukraine Facility "will pool the EU's budget support to Ukraine into one single instrument, providing coherent, predictable and flexible support for the period 2024-2027 to Ukraine, adapted to the unprecedented challenges of supporting" the country, it said.

The Ukraine Facility's total budget of 50 billion euros will be split between 33 billion euros in loans in 17 billion euros in grants.

The provisional agreement has to be approved by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament before going through the formal adoption procedure. Once adopted, it will be published in the EU's Official Journal and enter into force the next day, it said.