Europe 1 with AFP 7 p.m., September 9, 2022

To help Ukraine cope with the consequences of the war against Russia which has been raging since February, the European Union approved on Friday aid amounting to five billion dollars to the country led by Volodymyr Zelensky.

A loan approved by the 27 EU finance ministers.

The 27 finance ministers of the EU gave the green light on Friday to a new aid of five billion euros to Ukraine to help it cope with the consequences of the war.

This assistance in the form of a loan, proposed on Wednesday by the Commission, represents the second tranche of a maximum package of nine billion for 2022 announced in May by the President of the European executive, Ursula von der Leyen.

“The new €5 billion loan will be used for the day-to-day running of the (Ukrainian) state and the country's essential infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals,” Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said after a meeting in Prague with his EU counterparts.

The Twenty-Seven had approved on July 12 a first aid of one billion euros, within the framework of this "macro-financial assistance".

This sum was disbursed at the beginning of August.

What financing methods?

Zbynek Stanjura promised Friday to work "to obtain a rapid agreement on the provision of (these) three billion remaining euros".

The Member States are divided on the methods of financing this sum, which delays the process.

"We have to agree on the distribution between loans and grants," admitted the Czech minister, whose country has held the rotating presidency of the EU since July.

The nine billion euros from the EU are part of a broader international effort, led in particular by the United States and the other G7 countries and totaling 39 billion.

A reconstruction estimated at 349 billion euros

But this sum should prove to be insufficient, because it had been calculated on the assumption that the military operation launched by Russia in Ukraine would end in August, according to a European diplomat.

Nor does it take into account the immense needs for the reconstruction of the country.

The World Bank on Friday estimated the "current" cost of this reconstruction at 349 billion euros, specifying that it should "increase further in the coming months as the war continues".

Macro-financial assistance (MFA) is aid that the EU provides to neighboring countries facing serious balance of payments problems, in addition to assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).