Ukraine to adopt three laws for €1.5 billion tranche from EU
Roksolana Pidlasa, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee (Photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) needs to pass three laws for Ukraine to receive another tranche of macro-financial assistance from the EU in 2023, says Roksolana Pidlasa, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee, in the interview with RBC-Ukraine.
According to her, external funding, in this case, is tied to the adoption of laws on the independence of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), on the criminalization of contraband, and on improving the process of selecting judges (draft law No. 10140).
The draft law on the SAPO has already been adopted in the first reading, and it is planned to be considered in the second reading as soon as possible.
Regarding the draft law on contraband criminalization, Pidlasa said there is still a discussion on whether to criminalize contraband of all goods, as required by the EU, or to change the approach.
"There is no discussion about criminalizing contraband of excisable goods. Everyone agrees with this. We are currently discussing with business associations the criminalization of all other goods contraband," said the head of the Budget Committee.
According to her, the Tax Committee and the Ministry of Finance are currently trying to find a compromise between the European requirements and the vision of business.
"Perhaps it will consist in raising the borders from which the criminalization of contraband of all goods begins. Perhaps it will be in postponing the entry into force of this rule. I think we need to determine what format of this draft law would be acceptable to us and propose to the European Commission that it be accepted (fulfillment of the condition - ed.) in this form," Pidlasa said.
Macro-financial assistance
This year, the EU will provide Ukraine with €18 billion in macro-financial assistance. Ukraine has already received 16.5 billion euros. The loan has a maturity of 35 years. At the same time, the EU will pay interest and other payments for servicing the loan instead of Ukraine.
In addition, the European Commission proposed to create a new support instrument for Ukraine within the EU budget.
