The European Commission remains committed to supporting Ukraine in its difficult economic situation and is preparing new measures.
“We are trying to evaluate [Ukraine’s] specific needs by holding consultations with the International Monetary Fund and our Ukrainian partners,” European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said at a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday.
She said that this would not take much time.
“We expect that we will soon be able to make a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union,” she said.
However, she did not specify a possible amount of aid, as well as when a respective proposal could be prepared.
Spokesman for the EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs Simon O’Connor said that Ukraine had already received EUR 100 million as part of the first macro-financial assistance program on May 20 this year (the first program envisages assistance of EUR 610 million). In addition, on June 17, the EU gave Ukraine EUR 500 million as part of the second macro-financial assistance program totaling EUR 1 billion.
“We expect the second payment of EUR 260 million under the first program of financial assistance to be made in the next few weeks,” he said.
The remaining payments under the existing programs, he said, will be made “in the next few months.”
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Ukraine needed a bridging finance for the period from November 2014 to February 2015 until an International Monetary Fund (IMF) package for Ukraine is ready, which would cover payments for Russian gas.
Bridging finance means that no later than in February 2015 Ukraine will obtain a new package from the IMF, to which new macro-financial aid of the European Union will be added, she said.
