European Parliament approves EUR 1 bln in assistance to Ukraine

The European Parliament  has supported by an overwhelming majority the provision of the fourth macro-financial assistance program worth EUR 1 billion to Ukraine.

The legislative resolution was voted in Strasbourg on Wednesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The decision was supported by 527 deputies, 124 voted against it, and 29 abstained.

In an explanatory note to the draft resolution, a rapporteur on this document, Polish MP Jaroslaw Walesa, said that the European Parliament should agree with the proposal of the European Commission to provide Ukraine with EUR 1 billion of macro-financial assistance in the form of loans.

At the same time, the EU's governing institutions put forward a number of conditions for Ukraine.

The European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission emphasize that further macro-financial assistance will be tied to progress in the fight against corruption in Ukraine. In particular, the issue concerns an automatic system for checking electronic income declarations of officials, the opening of registers of final beneficiaries of companies, as well as the creation of a specialized anti-corruption court in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

As Ukrinform reported, in early March, the European Commission approved and made a proposal to launch a new (fourth) macro-financial assistance program for Ukraine in the amount of up to EUR 1 billion for economic stabilization and structural reform.

On June 7, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko signed the document on June 11.

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