The European Commission says the bills blocked by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada are needed not only for reforms but also for continued macro-financial assistance to Kyiv.
European Commission spokesman for economy and budget Balazs Ujvari made the comments Wednesday at a briefing in Brussels, addressing the Rada’s failure on Tuesday to pass the necessary legislative acts.
"We’re following the debates very closely, and we’re paying particular attention to this specific law (referring to the bill on customs formalities to abolish the VAT exemption for parcels up to EUR 150 - IFU). Why? Because it’s part of the requirements of the macro-financial assistance program we’re rolling out for Ukraine. So the target we need to reach under this year’s macro-financial assistance program is EUR 8.35 billion, of which we’ve already disbursed EUR 3.2 billion," he said.
According to the spokesman, the European Commission is considering a second disbursement of about EUR 3.7 billion in early autumn. "And there are 12 conditions here, and this law is one of them. So this law needs to be adopted for us to continue disbursements as planned," Ujvari said.
The spokesman stressed that "this is a very important law, since it plays an important role in mobilizing revenue for the Ukrainian budget, which is very much needed." "That’s why it’s important for Ukraine to keep moving forward with the relevant reforms, so we can make disbursements on schedule," he added.
Ujvari also said a video conference between Commissioner Dombrovskis and Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky is scheduled for next week, during which this issue will also be discussed.
