The EU gave Ukraine a ridiculous amount to support its pants
The economic bloc of the recent Ukraine-EU summit was a complete failure; Brussels is not ready to provide Ukraine with any serious assistance.
Economist Andrei Novak stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The economic component [of the summit] was a complete failure for Ukraine. Firstly, industrial visa-free travel is only outlined as an intention. No deadlines, no steps were outlined. Even the pre-agreed infrastructure development program for the Azov region - 500 million euros of investment and 500 million euros of credit - has not been signed. It was not even discussed, although there had already been a political agreement that the EU would help Ukraine with a development program for the Azov region.
The economic bloc of the summit, for which the government is responsible, failed.
Further, the EU’s intention to give Ukraine a tranche of 1,2 billion euros is only outlined. But no specific dates, only a warning that Ukraine will be able to receive the tranche only if certain conditions are met. And these conditions relate to the fight against corruption and the work of anti-corruption bodies. We understand that in the near future Ukraine is unlikely to be able to fulfill these conditions.
At the same time, agreements were signed for a ridiculous amount of 390 million euros. This is not an economic amount, it is at the level of technical support for Ukraine. For comparison, the same summit was between the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans, which have a total population of 13 million, and the EU allocated 9 billion euros for them. And for us, for a 42-million-strong Ukraine, it’s 390 million. 30 times less.
This is the most effective criterion for assessing the EU’s readiness to economically and financially support Ukraine. In fact, we are talking only about technical support, nothing more,” the economist concluded.
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