Negotiators agree

EU billion-euro package for Ukraine becomes more concrete

Part of the support is to flow into the reconstruction of the country.(Bild: AFP)

The EU's billions in new aid for Ukraine have cleared another hurdle. After Hungary gave up its blockade against the financial aid last week, negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states also agreed on the 50 billion euro package on Tuesday night.

Among other things, the sum is to be used for reconstruction after the Russian war of aggression and for reforms until the end of 2027.

According to the EU countries, 33 billion of this will be loans and the rest grants. A decision on the aid program should have been made at a regular EU summit in December. At that time, however, the Hungarian head of government Viktor Orbán vetoed the decision and prevented an agreement from being reached.

The rest is a formality
Orbán had previously questioned the usefulness of the plans on several occasions and in this context also pointed out that, in his view, the EU had unjustly frozen funds earmarked for his country from the EU budget. He then gave up his blockade at a special summit last week.

An overview of the allocations to date:

The European Parliament and EU states still have to approve the project. However, this is considered a formality. EU President Ursula von der Leyen speaks of a breakthrough on Platform X. Europe stands by its word: "We will continue to provide our courageous partner and aspiring member with the funding and predictability it urgently needs."

According to the Commission President, the aim is to start payments to Kiev in March.