Contents tagged with European Union

  • EU extends economic sanctions against Russia

    On December 14, President of France Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel updated the EU council on the current state of implementation of the Minsk agreements, to which the sanctions are linked. Due to the lack of progress, the European Council made a political proposal to extend the economic sanctions.

    Restrictions concern the financial, energy and defense sectors, as well as dual-use goods. These measures were initially introduced on July 31, 2014 for one year in response to …

  • Ukraine ratifies €1 billion aid agreement with the EU

    On Friday, November 16, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the decree ratifying the Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine and the European Union and the loan agreement for EUR 1 billion in macro financial assistance, reported the President’s press service.

    These documents were signed on September 14, 2018 in Kyiv in the presence of Poroshenko and Prime-Minister Volodymyr Groysman, between the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, Acting Finance Minister …

  • EU allocates 25 million euro to the UN development program in Donbas

    The European Union will allocate €25 million to the United Nations development program in Ukraine to support the Donbas. The European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn signed an agreement in Kyiv with the Permanent Representative of the UN Development Program in Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani.

    In 2017, the EU decided to allocate 50 million euro for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian conflict-stricken regions. These funds will be distributed to four …

  • EU asks Ukraine to submit draft of the 'language' law for final review by Venice Commission

    Before the second reading of the drafted law “ensuring a functioning Ukrainian language as the state language” Ukraine must coordinate with all interested parties and obtain an assessment of the document by the Venice Commission, stated the EU’s representatives as quoted by Evropeiska Pravda.

    The official position of the EU is that the future law must comply with international norms and Ukraine’s responsibilities. In particular, it must follow the European Charter regarding regional or …

  • Lithuania to allocate 1 million euro for the restoration of the Donbas

    The Government of Lithuania is planning to allocate about one million euro from the 2019 budget to support Ukraine, particularly settlements in the Donbas which were affected by Russian aggression, stated the Head of the Donetsk Regional State Civil and Military Administration, Oleksandr Kuts after meeting with the Ambassador of Lithuania in Ukraine, Marius Janukonis.

    "The Lithuanian Government plans to allocate about one million euro from the budget to support Ukraine. A principle decision in …

  • Media: EU imports record number of illegal Ukrainian timber

    Ukraine exports more illegal lumber to the EU than any other country – more than Latin America, Africa and South East Asia combined, Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly) reports, citing an investigation by the British ecological organization Earthsight.

    Despite the moratorium on deforestation, over the last four years the export volume of Ukrainian wood to EU countries has grown by 75%, exceeding €1 billion last year.The investigators estimate that 40% of this lumber was felled or sold illegally. …

  • President of the European Council: Trump not hiding that his desire to understand Russia is stronger than his enthusiasm for Ukraine

    President of the United States Donald Trump is in discussions with President of the European Council Donald Tusk did not hide that he had less enthusiasm for Ukraine and more of a desire to understand what Russia did in Ukraine, said Tusk in an interview on TV program Fakty po faktach on channel TVN24.

    Tusk stressed that Ukraine needs more support now than ever before, especially in the light of a possible drastic change in US policy towards it.  “In several conversations with me, President …

  • Ukraine-EU summit participants call Nord Stream 2 pipeline a mistake

    During a joint press statement with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on the results of the 20th Ukraine-EU summit in Brussels on Monday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the construction of Nord Stream 2 “completely nullifies all of Europe’s gas independence”, since Europe will be more dependent on Russian gas.

    Poroshenko added that Ukraine remains a strategic partner of European countries in energy matters - “a partner …

  • European Union assistance plan for Ukraine presented in Lithuania

    On November 6, in the Lithuanian Seimas, ambassadors of the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership Program presented the so-called “Marshall Plan” – the EU's financial assistance plan to help Ukraine.

    According to the plan, politicians are offering to allocate 50 billion euros to Ukraine for the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses. This would begin in 2018 and extend over a period of ten years.

    “I would like to emphasize that this was first Lithuania’s plan to help …

  • Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Kyiv and Warsaw being put at odds

    The Polish Foreign Ministry has stated that during a meeting with President of the Ukrainian World Congress Eugene Czolij, Polish Undersecretary of State Bartosz Cichocki claimed accusations that the Polish authorities have attempted to block the European integration of Ukraine are part of a hybrid war being waged against Poland.

    "In reality, groundless accusations against the Polish authorities regarding the alleged obstruction of the process of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of …