European Union greenlights vital 'Ukraine Plan' to deploy $54 billion in aid

“The Council today adopted an implementing decision giving a positive assessment to the ‘Ukraine Plan’, which sets out the intentions of the government of Ukraine regarding the recovery, reconstruction and modernization of the country, and the reforms it plans to undertake as part of its EU accession process in the next four years,” the statement read.

“The Council considered in particular that thanks to this plan, Ukraine fulfils the precondition for support under the Ukraine Facility (up to €50 billion), and that now regular payments can start to flow“.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked Belgium, who holds the presidency of the EU Council, and the EU member states for their appreciation of the “Ukraine Plan”.

"The Plan’s approval allows us to fully launch the Ukraine Facility - our country will receive EUR 1.89 billion ($2.04 billion) in pre-financing. In general, this year we expect to attract EUR 16 billion ($17.3 billion) under the program. This will strengthen our financial stability in the context of a full-scale war with Russia," he wrote in his Telegram post.

The Ukraine Facility, which entered into force on Mar. 1, foresees up to €50 billion of stable financing, in grants and loans, to support Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction, and modernization for the period 2024 to 2027. Of this, up to €32 billion ($34.5 billion) of the Ukraine Facility is indicatively earmarked to support reforms and investments set out in the ‘Ukraine Plan’, whereby disbursements will be conditioned to the delivery of identified indicators. Since its entry into force, the Ukraine Facility already disbursed €6 billion ($6.5 billion) by way of bridge financing, after fulfilment of agreed policy conditions.

In the ‘Ukraine Plan’ submitted on 20 March 2024, Ukraine outlined its vision for reconstruction, modernization and the reforms it intends to undertake as part of its EU accession process. The plan emphasizes structural reforms and investments in the sectors with the largest growth potential. It addresses improvements in public administration, emphasizing good governance, adherence to the rule of law and the fight against corruption and fraud.

On April 15, the European Commission has endorsed the reform plan proposed by the Ukrainian government, known as the Ukraine Plan, within the framework of EU’s Ukraine Facility aid program.

On March 18, Kyiv adopted the reform plan — a key requirement of the Ukraine Facility program, which itself was approved by the European Council on Feb. 1.