European Union Sets Conditions For More Aid To Ukraine

Valdis Dombrovskis

BRUSSELS – A top European Union finance official said Kyiv needs to do more in fighting corruption and to pass pension and land reforms as conditions for receiving more financial aid from Brussels.

Speaking alongside Ukraine’s finance minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, who is the European commissioner for financial services, said Ukraine must also set up a credit register, ensure further privatization, and lift trade restrictions with the European Union.

The European bloc has made the final installment of a 600-million-euro financial aid package conditional on passage of those reforms.

The EU has imposed a tight time frame to enact the reforms, with the deadline for payout looming in January.

Dombrovskis said Brussels wants concrete plans on how those changes will be implemented by the end of October.

“We certainly need clarity. I would say maybe not towards mid- but towards the end of next month,” he said. “Indeed, time is relatively short.”

Since 2014, the European Union has given Ukraine 2.8 billion euros of financial assistance.