The European Commission's chief spokeswoman, Paula Pinho, officially confirmed that the issue of unblocking the 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine is planned to be resolved by March 19. This is possible so quickly because there is progress in discussions around the restoration of the Druzhba oil pipeline.
Points of attention
- The European Commission's positive response to Ukraine's decision to accept European aid for Druzhba signals potential progress in the loan discussions before the European Council meeting.
- Paula Pinho, the EC spokeswoman, expressed confidence in reaching a resolution on the loan issue soon, emphasizing the importance of restoring the pipeline for oil supply.
The EU is determined to unblock a loan for Ukraine
On March 17, it became known that Kyiv had agreed to accept technical and financial assistance from the European Union to restore the Druzhba oil pipeline as quickly as possible.
This decision by Ukraine brings closer the moment of unblocking the 90 billion euro loan.
Paula Piño predicted that this could happen in the coming days:
Regarding the loan, this extremely important loan for Ukraine, the discussions are ongoing, and we hope and are confident that we will see some progress in these discussions soon. We will see. Ideally, this should happen before the European Council meeting (March 19-20. — ed.)
According to the EC spokeswoman, official Brussels welcomes Ukraine's decision to accept European aid.
The Druzhba repair will happen much faster than expected. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky believes that everything can be restored in a month and a half.
"The expert is ready to go to Ukraine — everything is happening right now as we speak — to make sure that all the necessary work is done in terms of repairs, in terms of restoring the pipeline, so that the oil supply is eventually restored," added Paula Pinho.
