On Tuesday Parliament backed, by a show of hands, a request to fast-track its legislative processes on an EU financial package to support Ukraine. The proposal would introduce a €90 billion EU support loan for Ukraine, financed through common EU borrowing from capital markets and guaranteed by the so-called “headroom” of the EU budget. This new instrument, if adopted, would provide military assistance and general budget support to the government in Kyiv, as well as support Ukraine’s defence industry and its integration into the European Defence Industrial Base.
In parallel, MEPs also decided to fast-track their work on an accompanying proposal to amend the so-called Ukraine Facility and on the decision by the Council to apply the enhanced cooperation procedure to enable 24 member states (excluding Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia) to provide Ukraine with the above-mentioned loan. The latter proposal will be put to a final vote by MEPs on Wednesday, 21 January.
Next steps
With the European Parliament having kicked off its work, the loan will now have to be agreed between MEPs and Council under the ordinary legislative procedure.
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