The Council of the European Union has approved the Commission'sproposalfor newmacro-financial assistance (MFA)to Ukraine. Only a few days after theEuropean Parliament's approvallast Wednesday, this paves the way for swift disbursement of up to €1.8bn in medium-term loans in 2015 (€1.2bn) and 2016 (€600m).
The Commission also decided to disburse a final tranche of €250m under MFA 1, which is expected to take place still this month. The new MFA comes on top ofwhat the EU is already contributingvia the State Building contract in terms of humanitarian and technical assistance and in terms of project assistance. In the course of 2014, the Commission disbursed €1.36bn in support of Ukraine underexisting MFA programmes.
In Kiev, Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said Ukraine is not currently buying gas from Russia's Gazprom and will only resume if a price of $250 per 1,000 cubic meters is agreed.
Demchyshyn told a briefing in Kiev on April 1 that Ukraine expects to sign a memorandum with Russia covering gas supplies through March 2016 within two weeks.
It was not immediately clear whether Russia would agree to the price.
Gazprom has said Ukraine paid $329 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of the year -- the final period covered by an EU-brokered deal reached in October.
That agreement restored supplies to Ukraine after a months-long hiatus, easing fears that severe tensions between Kiev and Moscow over Russia's takeover of Crimea and support for rebels in a war in eastern Ukraine would affect supplies of Russian gas to Europe via the transit nation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 31 that he supported extending the deal by three months.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/eu-ukraine-%E2%82%AC18bn-supplementary-assistance