OREANDA-NEWS The European Union will provide Ukraine with a new package of financial assistance. This, as the DW correspondent reports from Brussels, was announced on Monday, January 24, by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. According to her, the new package «will include emergency loans and grants», in particular, a new urgent macro-financial assistance program in the amount of 1.2 billion euros. Macro-financial assistance is loans allocated by the European Union on preferential terms to neighboring countries, primarily to support their balance of payments.

«This package will help Ukraine now to cover financial needs in the light of the conflict», said Ursula von der Leyen. She expressed the hope that the EU Council and the European Parliament would promptly give the consent necessary for the transfer of funds. After that, the European Commission will quickly allocate the first tranche of 600 million euros to Kiev, von der Leyen promised.

Meanwhile, Brussels is preparing another package of macro-financial assistance, this time — long-term and aimed at the modernization of Ukraine. «The European Commission will almost double the bilateral grant support to Ukraine this year: an additional 120 million euros will be allocated. This support will strengthen Ukraine's state-building and its efforts to increase resilience», said von der Leyen.

«In addition to this, we will continue to invest in the future of the country through our investment plan. This plan is aimed at attracting more than 6 billion euros», the head of the European Commission said. «I want to make it clear: Ukraine is a free and sovereign country. She makes her own choice, and the EU will continue to support her», von der Leyen stressed.