Parliament ratifies EU Ukraine Facility framework agreement.

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Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, ratified on June 6 the terms for which Kyiv will receive 50 billion euros (£54 billion) in macro-finance support from the EU until 2027, known as the Ukraine Facility. The four-year Ukraine Facility allocates 33 billion euros (£36 billion) in loans and 17 billion euros (£18 billion) in grants, conditional on certain reforms that the Ukrainian government is obliged to carry out. The EU approved the Ukraine Facility in February and the EU Council approved the framework agreement in mid-May, setting out the Ukrainian government's tasks for recovery, reconstruction, and modernization.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in March that the reforms would cover "public administration, (the) fight against corruption, (and) economic and sectoral reforms in various spheres: from the energy to the agricultural sector." According to lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak, 320 MPs voted in support of the framework agreement. Kyiv already received two pre-financing "bridge" tranches under the assistance plan: 4.5 billion euros (£4.8 billion) in March and 1.5 billion euros (£1.6 billion) in April.

Ukraine received EU membership candidate status in June 2022. In November 2023, the European Commission recommended the launch of accession talks with Kyiv. The European Council then agreed to open accession talks with Ukraine the following month.

EU aid and accession talks: Why European elections matter for Ukraine

Starting on June 6, citizens of the European Union will head to the voting booths to elect the bloc's 720-member European Parliament.

The election, held between June 6 and June 9 and often downplayed as irrelevant by voters, will have a major impact on EU domestic and foreign policy, among