The EU Council Approves One Billion Euros in Aid for Ukraine

The money will cover urgent needs and critical infrastructure. The Council of the European Union on Tuesday, July 12, supported the European Commission’s proposal to allocate one billion euros of the first tranche of new macro-financial assistance to Ukraine, according to the press service of the EU Council. “The Council today decided to urgently provide Ukraine with an additional 1 billion euros in macro financial assistance,” the statement said. The press release noted that together with the emergency macro-financial assistance of 1.2 billion euros that was allocated earlier this year, the EU’s total macro-financial support to Ukraine since the start of the war now reaches 2.2 billion euros. “It is expected to increase further in the coming months. This financial assistance complements other EU support to Ukraine in humanitarian, customs, defense and development areas,” it said. Commenting on the decision, Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura, who now holds the EU presidency, said: “The continuation of material and financial assistance is not an option, it is our responsibility. So I am very pleased that we have accelerated the decision to provide one billion euros in macro financial assistance. This will give Ukraine the necessary funds to cover urgent needs and ensure that critical infrastructure works.” The European Parliament supported this proposal on July 7. Recall that in June, the EU agreed to provide Ukraine with a package of financial assistance worth almost 9 billion euros. However, it later became known that Germany is blocking this aid package. Корреспондент