The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a proposal for a €50 billion support facility for the recovery, reconstruction and modernisation of Ukraine from 2024.
Supported by a very large majority, parliamentarians also called for seized Russian assets to be used to rebuild Ukraine. However, the legality of using these Russian assets is still under discussion within the European institutions, and no concrete proposal is yet on the table.
Belgium, home to the international financial services companies where many of these assets are frozen, could already release a total of €2.3 billion for Ukraine in 2022 and 2023 from taxes levied on the interest earned on these frozen assets.
MEPs insist that the facility, as well as the whole budget revision, should be adopted as soon as possible, as there are as yet no provisions to help Ukraine from 2024 onwards. The European Parliament has also strengthened provisions to combat fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and irregularities in the use of EU funds in Ukraine.
MEPs must still negotiate the aid facility with the Member States, which themselves have yet to reach a unanimous position. The parliament has stressed the urgency of this matter, as no aid has yet been committed to Ukraine for next year.
