Daily News 22 / 08 / 2023

Commission pays a further €1.5 billion in assistance to Ukraine

The Commission has today paid €1.5 billion under the  Macro-financial Assistance + package for Ukraine worth up to €18 billion. With this instrument, the EU seeks to help Ukraine cover its immediate funding needs, with stable, predictable, and sizeable financial support in 2023. With today's payment, Ukraine has so far received €12 billion this year under Macro-financial Assistance +.

This support will help Ukraine to continue paying wages and pensions, and keep essential public services running, such as hospitals, schools, and housing for relocated people. It will also allow Ukraine to ensure macroeconomic stability and restore critical infrastructure destroyed by Russia in its war of aggression, such as energy infrastructure, water systems, transport networks, roads, and bridges.

Today's payment comes after the Commission found on 25 July that Ukraine continued to make satisfactory progress towards implementing the agreed policy conditions and complied with reporting requirements, which aim to ensure the transparent and efficient use of the funds. Ukraine has notably achieved important progress to enhance financial stability, strengthen the rule of law, improve its gas system, encourage energy efficiency and promote a better business climate.

President Ursula von der Leyen said: “We are mobilising every effort to help Ukraine. Today, we paid another €1.5 billion in assistance to the country, as it faces Russia's brutal war of aggression and works on restoring its infrastructure. And our support will go well beyond 2023. We will continue to stand resolutely by Ukraine's side, with up to €50 billion in support proposed for 2024-2027.”

Overall, since the start of the war, the support to Ukraine and Ukrainians amounts to €76 billion. This includes financial, humanitarian, emergency budget and military support to Ukraine from the EU, Member States and the European financial institutions, as well as resources made available to help Member States cater for the needs of Ukrainians fleeing the war. More information is available in this factsheet.

On 20 June, the Commission proposed to set up a dedicated Facility providing coherent, predictable and flexible support to Ukraine for the period 2024-2027, for an overall amount of up to €50 billion. 

(For more information: Daniel Ferrie – Tel.: +32 2 298 65 00; Laura Bérard – Tel: +32 2 295 57 21)

Wildfires: EU mobilises five additional rescEU airplanes for Greece as well as more firefighters

As new devastating wildfires burn in different areas of Greece, the EU is swiftly mobilising additional firefighting resources to aid the ongoing efforts of Greek firefighters. Five rescEU firefighting airplanes stationed in Croatia, Germany and Sweden, and one Blackhawk helicopter, 58 firefighters and nine water tanks from Czechia are on their way to Greece today. This assistance comes in addition to the aerial and ground means from Cyprus and Romania that arrived in Greece yesterday.

Over the last two days, the EU has deployed seven airplanes, one helicopter, 114 firefighters and 19 vehicles to assist Greek firefighters, volunteers and police in fighting the massive wildfires. In addition, the EU Copernicus satellite mapping programme has already produced two maps of the affected areas and two Liaison Officers from the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre are also on their way to Greece.

Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner for Crisis Management, said: "Greece is witnessing an unprecedented scale of wildfire devastation this summer and in such trying times the EU's swift assistance is vital. Today, we can see the real-life significance of having doubled our rescEU aerial firefighting fleet for this wildfire season. I extend my heartfelt appreciation to Croatia, Czechia, Germany and Sweden for their support in aiding the Greek firefighters already valiantly battling the flames. The EU maintains its commitment to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Greece in the face of these devastating wildfires."

This collaborative effort follows the EU's prompt reaction to Greece's earlier activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Last month, a coordinated deployment involving 9 planes, 510 firefighters, and 117 vehicles was launched to tackle the escalating wildfires.

(For more information: Balazs Ujvari - Tel.: +32 2 295 45 78; Daniel Puglisi - Tel.: +32 2 296 91 40)

Concentrations : la Commission autorise l'acquisition de ECF par PAI Partners

La Commission européenne a approuvé, en vertu du règlement européen sur les concentrations, l'acquisition de ECF Group Equity (« ECF ») par PAI Partners SAS (« PAI Partners »), toutes deux basées en France.

ECF est actif dans le commerce de gros d'équipements et de consommables non alimentaires pour l'hôtellerie et les soins professionnels. ECF est actif à travers le monde et, au sein de l'UE, est principalement actif en Allemagne, Autriche, Belgique, France, Italie et Luxembourg. PAI Partners est une société de capital-investissement qui gère des fonds investissant dans les services aux entreprises, l'alimentation, les produits de consommation, l'industrie et la santé. PAI Partners est actif dans de nombreux pays et dans tous les États membres de l'UE.

La Commission a conclu que l'acquisition envisagée ne soulèverait pas de problème de concurrence, compte tenu de son impact très limité sur la structure du marché. La transaction a été examinée dans le cadre de la procédure simplifiée de contrôle des concentrations.

De plus amples informations sont disponibles sur le site internet concurrence de la Commission, dans le registre public des affaires sous le numéro d'affaire M.11203. 

(Pour plus d'informations : Daniel Ferrie – Tél. : +32 2 298 65 00 ; Sara Simonini – Tél. : +32 2 298 33 67)

Mergers: Commission clears creation of a joint venture by Samskip Holding, Duisburg Hafen and TX Logistik

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture by Samskip Holding B.V. (‘Samskip') of the Netherlands, Duisburg Hafen AG (‘Duisport') and TX Logistik AG (‘TX LogistiK'), both of Germany.

The joint venture will operate the bi-modal rail/road terminal located in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Duisburg (‘Ziel Terminal'). Samskip is a global logistics company offering transport and related services by land, sea, rail and air. Duisport is the owner of the Ziel Terminal and it currently manages the port of Duisburg and other terminals located within a radius of 200 km of Ziel Terminal. TX Logistik is a rail logistics company operating in Europe.

The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because of its limited impact on the market. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

More information is available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.11065.

(For more information: Daniel Ferrie – Tel.: +32 2 298 65 00; Sara Simonini – Tel.: +32 2 298 33 67)

STATEMENTS

Europe-Wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes: Statement by Vice-President Jourová and Commissioner Reynders

To commemorate the Europe-Wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes tomorrow, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, and Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, issued the following statement:

“84 years ago, the signature of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, followed by the start of the Second World War, opened one of the darkest chapters in European history. On this important date for the history of our continent, we honour the countless victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. We reaffirm that their memory is not forgotten, and renew our commitment to do everything in our power to prevent such tragedies from ever being repeated.

In February last year, however, Europe and the whole world watched in horror and disbelief as Vladimir Putin brought back war, persecution, and illegal occupation to our continent. Russia's state apparatus distorts history and spreads conspiracies to poison our democracies with malicious disinformation. We will continue our work to promote remembrance and provide facts to dismantle such distortions, wherever we find them.

Today, Ukraine and its people are fighting for peace and democracy. We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, for this war is about defending our democracies. Our freedom is not negotiable, and neither is Ukraine's.”

The full statement is available online.

(For more information: Christian Wigand - Tel.: +32 2 296 22 53; Cristina Torres Castillo - Tel.: +32 2 299 06 79)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis travels to India for G20 Trade and Investment meeting

Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, travels to India from 22 August until 27 August to attend the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting in Jaipur, and to co-chair the EU-India High-Level Dialogue on Trade & Investment together with Piyush Goyal, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, in Delhi.

During his visit, he is also due to meet Nirmala Sitharaman, Indian Minister of Finance, for discussions on the EU's relations with India. Overall, the EU is aiming to deepen ties with India and working to that end with negotiations on three ambitious agreements: a Free Trade Agreement, an Investment Protection Agreement and a Geographical Indications Agreement.

Closer EU-India cooperation is symbolised through the parallel engagement in the Trade and Technology Council. During his travel to India Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis will also participate in a meeting with European Business, organised jointly by the EU Delegation and Task Force to establish a Federation of European Business in India (FEBI).

The key themes of the G20 meeting in Jaipur, which starts on Wednesday, are multilateral trade for global growth and prosperity, inclusive and resilient trade, supply chains as well as leveraging technology for paperless trade.

In the margins of the event, Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis will also have the opportunity for bilateral meetings, including with Mary Ng, Canadian Trade Minister; Katherine Tai, Trade Representative of the United States; Ömer Bolat, Turkish Trade Minister; Zulkifli Hasan, Indonesian Trade Minister; and Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry.

(For more information: Balazs Ujvari – Tel.: +32 2 295 45 78; Sophie Dirven – Tel.: +32 2 296 72 28)

Liste des points prévus à l'ordre du jour des prochaines réunions de la Commission

Veuillez noter que ces informations sont données sous réserve de modifications.

Prochains événements de la Commission européenne

Eurostat: communiqués de presse