{"id":5746,"date":"2020-04-23T17:19:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T21:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/?p=5746"},"modified":"2020-04-23T17:19:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T21:19:26","slug":"coronavirus-commission-proposes-e3-billion-macro-financial-assistance-package-to-support-ten-neighbouring-countries-eu-delegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/?p=5746","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: Commission proposes \u20ac3 billion macro-financial assistance package to support ten neighbouring countries – EU Delegation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0European Commission adopted a proposal for a \u20ac3 billion macro-financial assistance package to ten\u00a0countries to help them to curb the economic impact of the coronavirus. The proposal includes \u20ac250 million for BiH.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0EU Delegation to BiH<\/a>\u00a0posted the following press release on its website.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus: Commission proposes \u20ac3 billion macro-financial assistance package to support ten neighbouring countries<\/h3>\n

22.04.2020<\/p>\n

The Commission has adopted a proposal for a \u20ac3 billion macro-financial assistance (MFA) package to ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners to help them to limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The proposal comes on top of the \u2018Team Europe<\/a>\u2018 strategy, the EU\u2019s robust and targeted response to support partner countries\u2019 efforts in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. It represents an important demonstration of the EU\u2019s solidarity with these countries at a time of unprecedented crisis.<\/p>\n

The proposal, following a preliminary assessment of financing needs, provides for the MFA funds to be distributed as follows: the Republic of Albania (\u20ac180 million), Bosnia and Herzegovina (\u20ac250 million), Georgia (\u20ac150 million), the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (\u20ac200 million), Kosovo (\u20ac100 million), the Republic of Moldova (\u20ac100 million), Montenegro (\u20ac60 million), the Republic of North Macedonia (\u20ac160 million), the Republic of Tunisia (\u20ac600 million) and Ukraine (\u20ac1.2 billion).<\/p>\n

Valdis\u00a0Dombrovskis<\/strong>, Executive Vice-President for An Economy that Works for People said: \u201cSupporting our neighbours is essential during this time of crisis to keep the entire region stable. As part of the EU\u2019s global response to the coronavirus pandemic, we need to help our neighbouring countries to cushion the worst of its economic impact. These \u2018crisis MFA programmes\u2019 will assist 10 countries in ensuring macro-economic stability and protecting their people and companies during the crisis<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paolo\u00a0Gentiloni<\/strong>, Commissioner for Economy, said: \u201cEuropean solidarity must not stop at the borders of our Union. Because in this global crisis, we stand or fall together. Today the European Commission is taking a decisive step to help ten of our neighbours in their fight against the Coronavirus. I call on the European Parliament and the Council to swiftly agree this important package<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MFA funds will be made available for 12 months in the form of loans on highly favourable terms to help these countries cover their immediate, urgent financing needs. Together with the International Monetary Fund\u2019s support, the funds can contribute to enhancing macroeconomic stability and creating space to allow resources to be allocated towards protecting citizens and mitigating the coronavirus pandemic\u2019s negative socio-economic consequences. This instrument also remains available for other eligible countries experiencing balance-of-payments difficulties.<\/p>\n

The Commission\u2019s proposal is subject to adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Given the urgent need for this support, the Commission counts on the cooperation of the co-legislators to ensure swift adoption of the proposal.<\/p>\n

Following the adoption of the proposal, the Commission stands ready to disburse the first instalment as swiftly as possible after the adoption of the MFA decision and upon the agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding with each partner country. The second instalment could be disbursed in the fourth quarter of 2020 or in the first half of 2021, provided that the policy measures attached to it have been implemented in a timely manner.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s response follows a \u2018Team Europe<\/a>\u2018 approach, aimed at saving lives by providing quick and targeted support to our partners to face this pandemic. It combines resources from the EU, its Member States and financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to support partner countries and address their short-term financing needs, as well as the longer-term structural impacts on societies and the economy. The overall figure of the \u2018Team Europe\u2019 package reaches more than \u20ac20 billion. The first Team Europe packages are already being implemented in the EU\u2019s immediate neighbourhood: the Western Balkans, in the East and to the South.<\/p>\n

The EU, as global actor and major contributor to the international development system, promotes a coordinated multilateral response, in partnership with the United Nations, International Financial Institutions, as well as the G7 and the G20.<\/p>\n

Macro-Financial Assistance<\/strong><\/p>\n

MFA is part of the EU\u2019s wider engagement with neighbouring and enlargement countries and is intended as an exceptional EU crisis response instrument. It is available to enlargement and EU neighbourhood countries experiencing severe balance-of-payments problems with policy conditionality. To benefit from an MFA, countries should meet certain political pre-conditions in terms of respect of democratic principles, human rights and rule of law. They should also benefit from an IMF financial assistance programme. In the implementation of the assistance, the Commission will ensure consistency with recent and ongoing MFA operations.<\/p>\n

In addition to MFA, the EU supports the Neighbourhood and Western Balkans through several other instruments, including humanitarian aid, budget support, thematic programmes, technical assistance, blending facilities and guarantees from the European Fund for Sustainable Development to support investment in sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0European Commission adopted a proposal for a \u20ac3 billion macro-financial assistance package to ten\u00a0countries to help them to curb the economic impact of the coronavirus. The proposal includes \u20ac250 million for BiH. The\u00a0EU Delegation to BiH\u00a0posted the following press release on its website. Coronavirus: Commission proposes \u20ac3 billion macro-financial assistance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statements","category-featured",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5747,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions\/5747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bihdaytonproject.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}