European Elections 2024

The Ukraine Facility supports Ukraine, its recovery and its path to EU accession, allocating up to €50 billion for 2024 to 2027. Regulation (EU) 2024/792 establishing the Ukraine Facility was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in February 2024. The EU budget is supposed to finance the Facility's €17 billion in grants and guarantee its €33 billion in loans. Additional financing is expected to come from frozen Russian assets. In the negotiations with the Council, the European Parliament managed to secure enhanced democratic control of the Facility by strengthening the rights of the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, while increasing transparency through the systematic involvement of Ukraine's civil society and through the publication of the recipients of EU funds. Third edition. The 'EU Legislation in Progress' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure.

The EU and its international partners are united in condemning Putin's aggression on Ukraine. We will provide support to those seeking shelter and we will help those looking for a safe way home. The EU will continue to offer strong political, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and impose hard-hitting sanctions against Russia and those complicit in the war.

The EU stands firmly with Ukraine and its people, and will continue to strongly support Ukraine's economy, society, armed forces and future reconstruction.

This paper provides detailed insight on the use of the EU budget to support Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. It explains the recent Commission proposal for a new ‘Ukraine Facility’ to finance the country and its recovery in the years 2024 to 2027. Furthermore, the paper addresses the challenges of ensuring full parliamentary scrutiny, democratic oversight, and effective budgetary control of the enormous amounts spent on Ukraine’s recovery. On top of that, the paper presents principles for a successful recovery.

On 9 November 2022, the European Commission presented an €18 billion Ukraine support package for 2023, in the form of highly concessional loans backed by the EU budget. Three acts must be passed for disbursement to begin in early January. If plenary approves use of the urgent procedure (Rule 163), the three proposals will be voted directly during the November II session.

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Ukraine had made significant progress in implementing ambitious regional development and decentralisation reforms. However, the reforms faced a number of challenges, many of which have been significantly exacerbated by Russia’s war against Ukraine. This report presents an in-depth analysis of Ukraine’s progress in implementing its multi-level governance reforms and explores the role of subnational governments in disaster management. From there, it recommends how Ukraine, together with international partners, can use multi-level governance, regional development and decentralisation to support subnational reconstruction and recovery to address urgent humanitarian needs, rebuild local economies and communities, and strengthen their resilience.

Russia's military invasion of Ukraine has already pushed over a million people to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. The EU and its Member States have strongly condemned the aggression and mobilised to aid Ukraine. The EU has also adopted measures to help people, mostly women and children, fleeing Russian aggression, while ensuring proper management of the EU's external borders. These measures include a proposal to grant EU-wide temporary protection to people arriving from Ukraine, guidelines to assist border guards carrying out checks at the EU-Ukraine borders, and support from specialised EU agencies.

While Ukraine has received considerable support from the EU and European financial institutions since 2014, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched on 24 February 2022, has triggered a historic and twofold mobilisation of EU funds – for humanitarian action and military support. The European Commission has announced over €500 million in financing for humanitarian aid and the Council has decided to use the off-budget European Peace Facility (EPF) to assist Ukraine with €500 million in military aid. For the first time, the EU will direct its funds, €450 million, towards purchasing lethal weapons for a country at war, through the EPF. Should this funding prove insufficient, however, further mobilisation of the EU budget might be necessary. In its 1 March 2022 resolution, the European Parliament announced that it expects the EU and EU Member States 'to activate any EU budget instruments available'.

In an unprecedented and unanimous reaction to the Russian war on Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, the EU swiftly decided to provide €500 million, and then rapidly a further €500 million, from the European Peace Facility to fund and coordinate EU military assistance and to deliver military (including lethal) equipment to Ukraine. The Council had already agreed €31 million for non-lethal assistance to Ukraine on 2 December 2021. For the first time in its history, the EU is now using a dedicated, although off-budget, tool to finance – but not to deliver, with that responsibility falling on Member States alone – lethal military equipment for a third country. This is an update of an 'At a glance' note published on 11 March 2022.

Support for Ukraine against Russian aggression has been strong across Europe, but it is far from uniform. An expert survey of the positions taken by political parties in 29 countries conducted mid-2023 reveals that 97 of 269 parties reject one or more of the following: providing weapons, hosting refugees, supporting Ukraine's path to European Union membership, or accepting higher energy costs. Where the perceived threat from Russia is most severe, we find the greatest levels of support for Ukraine. However, ideology appears to be far more influential. The level of a party's populist rhetoric and its European Union skepticism explain the bulk of variation in support for Ukraine despite our finding that many strongly populist and European Union-skeptical parties take moderate pro-Ukraine positions when in government.

Russia’s war is having a devastating humanitarian impact and has severely thwarted development progress in Ukraine. It has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe, triggering the largest wave of refugees in Europe since World War II. As of 22 November 2022, 7.8 million refugees had fled the country, while around 6.2 million people are internally displaced. In recent months, there have been reports of an uptick in migrants returning to Ukraine. On 31 October 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 16 295 civilian casualties: 6 430 killed and 9 865 injured. The war is also exacerbating territorial disparities and governance challenges across Ukraine, for example, by reducing the human and fiscal resource capacities of many municipalities. Moreover, the war has affected regions and municipalities in very different ways. Many communities have suffered tremendous loss of lives and destruction of critical infrastructure, and others have provided homes and support to internally displaced people.

The EU stands united in its unwavering support to Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion, and cruel and ruthless warfare. The EU has stepped up its political, humanitarian, financial and military support to Ukraine and is imposing massive sanctions against the Kremlin to cripple its war machine. Since the start of the invasion, the EU has mobilised €4.1 billion in macro-financial assistance, budget support, emergency assistance, crisis response and humanitarian aid to support Ukraine. €1.5 billion in military assistance under the European Peace Facility to support Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend their population and territorial integrity have also been provided [...]

Over the past two years, the EU has been remarkably united when it comes to supporting Ukraine. Despite internal disagreements, the EU has remained strongly pro-Ukraine, providing the country with substantial financial aid and even some military support through the European Defense Agency. The upcoming elections for the European Parliament (EP) will not fundamentally change the EU’s pro-Ukraine stance, but secondary effects might make providing support for Ukraine more difficult in the future.

The Working Group strengthens the relations between the EU and Ukraine by bringing together CoR members, EU institutions, and representatives from Ukrainian cities, regions and local authorities. By promoting dialogue and cooperation, the Working Group contributes to the work of the CIVEX commission and the consultative work of the CoR.
The Working Group on Ukraine was set up on 6 April 2020, building on the work of the Task Force on Ukraine, which was created on 12 February 2015.