European Parliament Approves Aid to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in view of COVID-19

MEPs have agreed emergency macro-financial assistance to 10 EU neighboring countries, in particular, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. These loans should support the balance of payments during the pandemic. The European Parliament supported the European Commission's proposal to provide emergency macro-financial assistance to 10 countries within the neighborhood and expansion policy to overcome the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The total loan package will amount to 3 billion euros. At a plenary meeting in Brussels on Friday, May 15, 547 deputies voted “for”, 93 parliamentarians “against”, and 47 abstained, a DW correspondent reports. Now the assistance program should be approved by the EU Council. The largest loan is provided for Ukraine - 1.2 billion euros. The second largest loan will be provided for Tunisia - 600 million euros. In addition, countries from the EU Eastern Partnership program, in particular Georgia (150 million euros) and Moldova (100 million euros), as well as countries in the Western Balkans, with the exception of Serbia, will receive assistance from the European Union. Brussels and Belarus asked for macro-financial assistance due to the spread of the coronavirus, but the decision is still pending. What will the EU macro-financial assistance go  to? Macro-financial assistance is loans on favorable terms allocated by the EU to neighboring countries to support their balance of payments. The maximum loan repayment term is 15 years. The EU explains the need for such assistance by the fact that, due to the pandemic, international trade declined and capital began to avoid developing markets. This created a sharp burden on the balance of payments in many countries. Since the provision of macro-financial assistance is an anti-crisis measure, this program will operate for one year, and not 2.5 years, as usual. The EU will be ready to pay the first tranche immediately after the memorandum of understanding between the European Commission and the governments of recipient countries is signed. "The second tranche will be allocated as soon as the conditions enshrined in the memorandum are met," the legislative proposal for an emergency macro-financial assistance program says. EU Assistance Terms These conditions will be different for each of the ten countries. The document states that they are aimed at enhancing macro-economic stability, improving macroeconomic management, public administration and transparency, as well as creating conditions for GDP growth. "In addition, they (conditions. - Ed.) should be formulated so that they can be implemented in a short time and in the context of an ongoing pandemic," the document added. Also, the macro-financial assistance provision implies prerequisites common to all EU partner countries: cooperation with the IMF, respect for democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party system, the rule of law and respect for human rights.