EU will fulfill its commitment to provide Ukraine with €90 billion, - von der Leyen
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that despite obstacles to the approval of a €90 billion loan, the promise will be fulfilled.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.
Details
According to von der Leyen, the EU "continues to work every day with Ukraine and our partners to ensure real long-term security for Ukraine, so that we can ensure a complete, fair, and lasting peace."
To this end, she noted, Ukraine needs stable financial support.
"As you know, that is why we proposed a €90 billion loan to finance Ukraine's needs. And you have all seen the difficulties we encountered in trying to implement it, even after all 27 leaders agreed to it.
This brings us back to the point I mentioned earlier about whether our system is still capable of functioning effectively. But I can assure you that in this case, we will fulfill our obligations. Because our credibility is at stake, and more importantly, our security. So for us, it is a priority and absolutely clear: we will provide this €90 billion loan," said the President of the European Commission.
According to von der Leyen, the same applies to enlargement.
"There has been a lot of discussion about how we can implement a merit-based process in a timely manner. But it is extremely important that we prepare now by bringing the Western Balkans, Moldova, and Ukraine closer to our Union. Enlargement is not a question of ideology. It is a question of common European interests and security. And we must be ready to fulfill our commitments when the time comes," she added.
As a reminder, Hungarian Energy Minister Gábor Czepek previously stated that Kyiv has three days to resume operations of the "Druzhba" oil pipeline or grant access to inspectors, otherwise Budapest will block EU funding.
What is known about the state of "Druzhba"?
- On January 27, Russian occupation forces struck a critical infrastructure facility belonging to the "Naftogaz" group in western Ukraine. The target of the attack was likely Ukraine's largest oil pumping station, located in Brody, which supplies the southern branch of the "Druzhba" oil pipeline.
- The prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia, Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, accused Ukraine of delaying the restoration of the oil pipeline's operation for "political reasons," and on February 18, the authorities of these two countries announced the suspension of oil product exports to Ukraine in response to Ukraine's suspension of Russian oil transit.
