Today the European Union is providing another €1.5 billion to Ukraine under its annual macro-financial assistance package. 

The European Commission made today a third payment of €1.5 billion under the Macro-financial Assistance (MFA)+ package for Ukraine, worth up to €18 billion. 

This support will help Ukraine cover its immediate financial needs: to continue paying salaries and pensions and to maintain basic public services such as hospitals, schools and housing for the displaced. It will also allow Ukraine to ensure macroeconomic stability and restore critical infrastructure destroyed by Russia in its war of aggression, such as energy infrastructure, water systems, transport networks, roads and bridges.

Today’s payment comes after the Commission found that Ukraine continued to make satisfactory progress to strengthen the rule of law, enhance financial stability, improve the functioning of the gas system and promote a better business climate. 

This finding will also enable the disbursement of two further monthly payments of €1.5 billion each in May and June.

Overall, since the start of the war, the support to Ukraine and Ukrainians amounts to around €68 billion. 

“We will continue helping Ukraine resist Russia’s aggression, keep its institutions and infrastructure running, and conduct crucial reforms,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

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Georgia’s steps toward EU integration and the regional security environment were the key topics discussed between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at today’s meeting within the scope of the Munich Security Conference.

The European Commission is proposing a tenth package of sanctions against Russia to further weaken Russia’s ability to maintain its war machine, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament Plenary in Strasbourg today.

The suggested package contains trade bans and controls on technology exports worth €11 billion.

The Commission proposes, among other things, export restrictions on multiple electronic components used in Russian armed systems, such as drones, missiles, and helicopters. 

The Commission is also proposing – for the first time – to sanction Iranian entities including those linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, producing drones.

Ursula von der Leyen said there were hundreds of Iranian-made drones used by Russia on the battlefields in Ukraine. “These Iranian made drones kill Ukrainian civilians – this is atrocious!” said the European Commission President. “It is our duty to sanction them, and confront Iran about the supply of drones and the transfer of know-how to build production sites in Russia.”

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The European Union will extend its sanctions, announced in response to Russian aggression against Ukraine, to those who militarily support Russia’s war, such as Belarus or Iran. This was announced by the Head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference today following the signing of the Third EU-NATO Joint Declaration on Cooperation.

“The European Union will keep doing everything in its power to support the brave people of Ukraine. We will keep the pressure on the Kremlin for as long as it takes with the biting sanctions regime,” said von der Leyen. “We will be coming forward with new sanctions on Belarus answering Belarus’ role in this Russian war in Ukraine.”

She also confirmed that the EU will continue its “substantial humanitarian economic and Security Assistance to Ukraine as long as it is necessary”.

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The EU will be ready to provide financial support for the Black Sea Energy submarine cable project, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on 17 December, attending the signing in the Romanian capital Bucharest of a memorandum of understanding between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania, which envisages the laying of an underwater electricity cable across the Black Sea. 

Ursula von der Leyen said the agreement would bring the European Union closer to its partners in the South Caucasus region, and would help both regions achieve the clean energy transition. “Since the beginning of Russia’s war, we have decided to turn our back on Russian fossil fuels and to diversify towards reliable energy partners, like the partners here around the table. And it is working,” said the European Commission President.

She added the initiative would reinforce energy security in Europe and bring new opportunities to Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine: “This project could bring Georgia, a country with a European destiny, great benefits as well. It could transform the country into an electricity hub and integrate it in the EU internal electricity market. Finally, the Black Sea electric cable could also help bring electricity to our neighbours in Moldova and the Western Balkans, and of course to Ukraine – it will help start rebuilding Ukraine’s energy system and the reconstruction of the country.”

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Georgia’s strategic geographic location makes us a natural bridge between the West and the East, serving as a gateway for eight landlocked countries of South Caucasus and Central Asia; a crucial link on EU’s Global Connectivity map and a game changer, when it comes to diversification of transport routes and energy supply to Europe. It was announced by Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia at the Plenary Session on Strategic Partnership for Green Energy Development and Transmission held in Romania today.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced its proposal for a ninth package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday evening.

The Commission proposes to add almost 200 additional individuals and entities to the EU’s sanctions list. This includes the Russian armed forces, as well as individual officers and defence industrial companies, members of the State Duma and Federation Council, ministers, governors and political parties. “This list covers key figures in Russia’s brutal and deliberate missile strikes against civilians, in the kidnapping  of Ukrainian children into Russia, and in the theft of Ukrainian agricultural products,” says the press release by the Commission.

Secondly, the Commission proposes to introduce sanctions against three additional Russian banks, including a full transaction ban on the Russian Regional Development Bank “to further paralyse Putin’s cash machines”.

Third, the Commission suggests imposing new export controls and restrictions, particularly for dual-use goods. This includes key chemicals, nerve agents, electronics and IT components that could be used by the Russian war machine.

Fourth, the sanctions will cut Russia’s access to all sorts of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Commission proposes to ban the direct exports of drone engines to Russia and the export to any third countries, such as Iran, which could supply drones to Russia.

Proposed economic measures against the Russian energy and mining sector include a ban on new mining investments in Russia.

Ursula von der Leyen also said that the Commission aims to target the Russian propaganda machine by taking four additional channels off the air and all other distribution platforms. 

She added that this package comes on top of the full EU import ban on Russian seaborne oil that came into force this week, as well as the global oil price cap agreed between the G7.

“Russia continues to bring death and devastation to Ukraine,” said von der Leyen. “We stand by Ukraine and we are making Russia pay for its cruelty.”

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced today that the EU is disbursing a further €2 billion in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

“More will follow by the end of the year. We’ll stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” wrote Ursuka von der Leyen on Twitter.

She added that the EU would discuss how to ensure continued support with global partners at the RebuildUkraine conference, which will take place in Berlin, on 25 October.

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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on the margins of the first summit of the European Political Community, in Prague.

Yesterday in Baku, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy.

The agreement includes a commitment to double the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor to deliver at least 20 billion cubic metres to the EU annually by 2027.

“With this new Memorandum of Understanding, we are opening a new chapter in our energy cooperation with Azerbaijan, a key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels,” said Ursula von der Leyen. “Not only are we looking to strengthen our existing partnership which guarantees stable and reliable gas supplies to the EU via the Southern Gas Corridor. We are also laying the foundations of a long-term partnership on energy efficiency and clean energy, as we both pursue the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”

According to the European Commission, the EU and Azerbaijan are also currently negotiating a new comprehensive agreement that would enhance cooperation in a wide range of areas. These include economic diversification, investment, trade and the full use of civil society potential, while stressing the importance of human rights and the rule of law.

Following the visit in Baku today, the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council will meet on 19 July in Brussels to review overall relations and discuss potential areas of mutual interest for cooperation in the future.

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