What changed between the adopted text of 17 Oct 2023 and the adopted text of 27 Feb 2024

Removed:(d) whether the arrangements proposed by Ukraine are expected to effectively prevent, detect and correct irregularities, fraud, corruption oligarch structures and conflicts of interests, as well as, to effectively investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the funds provided under the Facility, and will ensure avoiding double funding from the Facility and other Union programmes as well as other donors;

Removed:(da) whether the Ukraine Plan effectively reflects the inputs of the stakeholder consultation process, conducted in accordance with the national legal framework, of relevant stakeholders, including the Verkhovna Rada, local and regional representative bodies and authorities, social partners and civil society organisations.

Removed:4. For the purpose of the assessment of the Ukraine Plan submitted by Ukraine, the Commission may be assisted by experts.

Removed:1. In case of a positive assessment ▌of the Ukraine Plan submitted by Ukraine ▌or, where applicable, of its amendment submitted in accordance with Article 20(1) or (2), the Commission is empowered to adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 38 to supplement this Regulation with provisions setting out the matters referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.

Removed:2. The delegated act shall set out, for the part to be funded by the Facility, the reforms and investments to be implemented by Ukraine, the conditions stemming from the Plan as described in Article 15(2), including the indicative timetable, the milestones and targets required for the disbursal of the amounts referred to in Article 6(1) point (a) and (2) and relevant contributions under paragraph 4 of that Article.

Removed:3. The delegated act referred to in paragraph 2 shall also lay down:

Removed:(a) the indicative non-repayable financial support and indicative amount of the loan support to be paid in instalments, structured in accordance with Article 15, once Ukraine has achieved satisfactory fulfilment of the relevant qualitative and quantitative steps identified in relation to the implementation of the Ukraine Plan;

Removed:(b) the non-repayable financial support and the amount of the loan support to be paid in the form of a pre-financing in accordance with Article 23 and its purpose;

Removed:(c) the time limit, which should be no later than 31 December 2027, by which the final qualitative and quantitative steps for both investment projects and reforms must be completed;

Removed:(d) the arrangements and timetable for monitoring and implementation of the Ukraine Plan, in particular the involvement of the Verkhovna Rada and the Monitoring Committees, referred to in Article 17a, as well as, where relevant, measures necessary for complying with Article 33;

Removed:(e) the indicators for assessing progress towards the achievement of the general and specific objectives mentioned in Article 3;

Removed:(f) the arrangements for providing full access by the Commission to the underlying relevant data.

Removed:3a. Where the Commission gives a negative assessment to the Ukraine Plan, it shall communicate a duly justified assessment within two months of the submission of the proposal by Ukraine. Following an invitation from the European Parliament, the Commission shall appear in front of the competent committees to present explanations for the negative assessment of the Ukraine Plan. The Commission shall transmit relevant and substantial information to the European Parliament and the Council simultaneously and on equal terms at least five working days ahead of the meeting.

Removed:1. The Ukrainian government, after consulting the Verkhovna Rada and the Monitoring Committees referred to in Article 17a, may propose amendments to the Ukraine Plan. In that case, Ukraine may make a reasoned request to the Commission to make a proposal to amend all or part of the delegated act referred to in Article 19(1).

Removed:2. The Commission may, after informing the European Parliament and the Council, in agreement with Ukraine, amend the delegate act referred to in Article 19(1), in particular to take into account a change of the amounts available, notably due to additional contributions by the Member States or from other sources as referred to in Article 6(4).

Removed:3. Where the Commission considers that the reasons put forward by Ukraine justify an amendment to the Ukraine Plan, the Commission shall assess the amended Ukraine Plan in accordance with Article 18 and shall make a proposal for an amendment of the delegated act referred to in Article 19(1).

Removed:1. The Commission shall establish a Ukraine Plan scoreboard (the ‘Scoreboard’), which shall display the progress of the implementation of the Ukraine Plan in each of the objectives referred to in Article 3, the social, economic, and environmental situation in Ukraine and the progress of the convergence towards the Union’s standards.

Removed:2. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 38 to supplement this Regulation by establishing the detailed elements of the Scoreboard with a view to displaying the progress of the implementation of the Ukraine Plan as referred to in paragraph 1, the social, economic, and environmental situation in Ukraine and the progress of the convergence towards the Union’s standards.

Removed:3. The Scoreboard shall be operational by July 2024 and shall be updated by the Commission twice a year. The Scoreboard shall be made publicly available online.

Removed:1. In order to finance the support under the Facility in the form of loans, the Commission shall be empowered, on behalf of the Union, to borrow the necessary funds on the capital markets or from financial institutions in accordance with Article 220a of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.

Removed:2. Upon adoption of the delegated act referred to in Article 19(1), the Commission shall enter into a loan agreement with Ukraine in respect of the amount referred to in Article 6(2). The loan agreement shall lay down the availability period and the detailed terms of the support under the Facility in the form of loans, including in relation to the internal control systems as referred to in Article 9(4), points (a) and (c). The loans shall have maximum duration of 35 years. In addition to the elements laid down in Article 220(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the loan agreement shall contain the amount of pre-financing and rules on clearing of pre-financing. The Commission shall transmit to the European Parliament and the Council, simultaneously, the following elements:

Removed:(a) the amount of the loan in EUR;

Removed:(b) the average maturity;

Removed:(c) the pricing formula, and the availability period of the loan;

Removed:(d) the maximum number of instalments and a clear and precise repayment schedule.

Removed:3. By way of derogation from Article 31(3), second sentence, of Regulation (EU) 2021/947, the financial assistance provided to Ukraine in the form of loans under the Facility shall not be supported by the External Action Guarantee.

Removed:4. No provisioning for the loans under this Regulation shall be constituted and, by way of derogation from Article 211(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, no provisioning rate as a percentage of the amount referred to in Article 6(2) of this Regulation shall be set.

Removed:4a. The loan agreement shall be transmitted simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Council, as well as to the Verkhovna Rada.

Removed:1. By way of derogation from Article 220(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and subject to available resources, the Facility may bear the cost of funding, cost of liquidity management, and cost of service for administrative overheads related to the borrowing and lending (“borrowing costs subsidy”), except for costs related to early repayment of the loan. For the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027, the borrowing costs subsidy shall be covered under Chapter V. The Facility may also bear the cost of the interest rate subsidies previously granted in Regulation (EU) 2022/2463, Decision (EU) 2022/1628, Decision (EU) 2022/1201 and Decision (EU) 2022/313, for the period 2024-2027.

Removed:2. Ukraine may request each year the borrowing costs subsidy referred to in paragraph 1. The Commission may award the borrowing costs subsidy for an amount not exceeding the limits of the appropriations made available in the annual budget.

Removed:1. Ukraine may request together with the submission of the Ukraine Plan a pre-financing payment of an amount of up to 7% of the non-repayable financial support and loan to be provided under Chapter III.

Removed:2. In respect of the non-repayable financial support, the Commission may make the payment of pre-financing after the adoption of the Plan referred to in Article 19 and the entry into force of the financing agreement referred to in Article 10, subject to the available funding and to the respect of the precondition referred to in Article 5.

Removed:3. In respect of the loan support, the Commission may make the payment of pre-financing after the approval of the Plan referred to in Article 19 and the entry into force of the loan agreement referred to in Article 21. The payments shall be made subject to the available funding on capital markets referred to in Article 21(1) and to the respect of the precondition set out in Article 5.

Removed:4. The Commission shall decide on the timeframe for the disbursement of the pre-financing, which may be disbursed in one or more tranches.

Removed:1. Without prejudice to Article 23, if the Framework Agreement referred to in Article 9 is not signed or the Ukraine Plan referred to in Chapter III is not adopted by 31 December 2023, the Commission may decide to provide limited, exceptional support to Ukraine for a period of up to three months after either the entry into force of this Regulation, or 1 January 2024, whichever is later, subject to having made satisfactory progress on the preparation of the Ukraine Plan, in order to support the macro-financial stability of the country, subject to conditions to be agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission and Ukraine, to the respect of the precondition mentioned in Article 5, to compliance with Article 6 and to available funding.

Removed:2. The amount of such support shall not exceed EUR 1 500 000 000 on a monthly basis. The Commission shall enter into a financing or loan agreement with Ukraine, which shall comply as appropriate with Articles 10 and 21, respectively.

Removed:Article 25 Rules on payments, withholding and reduction of non-repayable financial support and loans

Removed:1. Payments of the non-repayable financial support and of the loan to Ukraine under this Article shall be made in accordance with the annual budgetary procedure and subject to the available funding. Payments shall be made in instalments. An instalment may be disbursed in one or more tranches.

Removed:2. Every quarter, Ukraine may submit a duly justified request for payment of the non-repayable financial support and of the loan, and the Commission shall pay the relevant non-repayable financial support and loan, on the basis of the assessment described in paragraph 3. This request shall be transferred to the relevant committee of the European Parliament as well as the relevant Council formation.

Removed:3. The Commission shall assess without undue delay whether Ukraine has achieved satisfactory fulfilment of the qualitative and quantitative steps set out in the delegated act referred to in Article 19(1). The satisfactory fulfilment of qualitative and quantitative steps shall presuppose that measures related to the steps for which Ukraine had achieved satisfactory fulfilment have not been reversed by Ukraine. The Commission may be assisted by experts.

Removed:4. Where the Commission makes a positive assessment of the satisfactory fulfilment of qualitative and quantitative steps, it shall adopt without undue delay a decision authorising the disbursement of the part of the non-repayable financial support and of the loan corresponding to such steps. The Commission’s assessment shall be transmitted simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Council.

Removed:5. Where the Commission makes a negative assessment of the fulfilment of qualitative and quantitative steps as per the indicative timetable, the payment of the non-repayable financial support and of the loan corresponding to such steps shall be withheld. The payment withheld shall only be disbursed when Ukraine has duly justified, as part of a subsequent payment request, that it has taken the necessary measures to ensure satisfactory fulfilment of the qualitative and quantitative steps. The Commission shall publish a methodology for handling partial fulfilment of steps as guidance. The Commission’s assessment shall be transmitted simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Council.

Removed:6. Where the Commission concludes that Ukraine has not taken the necessary measures within a period of twelve months from the initial negative assessment referred to in paragraph 5, the Commission shall reduce the amount of the non-repayable financial support and of the loan proportionately to the part corresponding to the relevant qualitative and quantitative steps. Ukraine may present its observations within two months from the communication of the Commission’s conclusions.

Removed:7. The Commission may reduce the amount of the non-repayable financial support, including by offsetting in line with Article 102 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, or of the loan to be disbursed to Ukraine as referred to in paragraph 4, in the event of identified cases of, or serious concerns in relation to, irregularities, fraud, corruption and conflicts of interests affecting the financial interests of the Union that have not been corrected by Ukraine, or a serious breach of an obligation resulting from such agreements, including on the basis of the reports of the Audit Board referred to in Article 34 or information provided by OLAF. Information about such decisions shall be transferred to the European Parliament and the Council.

Removed:8. By way of derogation from Article 116(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the payment deadline as referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1 of Article 116, of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 shall start running from the date of the communication of the decision authorising the disbursement to Ukraine pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article.

Removed:9. Article 116(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 shall not apply to payments made pursuant to this Article and to Article 23 of this Regulation.

Removed:Article 26 Transparency with regard to persons and final beneficiaries receiving funding for the implementation of the Plan

Removed:1. Ukraine shall publish up-to-date data on persons, entities and final beneficiaries receiving amounts of funding exceeding the equivalent of EUR 100 000 cumulative over the period of 4 years, for the implementation of reforms and investments specified in the Ukraine Plan referred to in this Chapter. The relevant rules laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 shall apply.

Removed:2. For persons, entities and final beneficiaries referred to in paragraph 1, the following information shall be published in machine-readable format on a webpage, in order of total funds received, having due regard for the requirements of confidentiality and security, in particular the protection of personal data:

Removed:(a) in the case of a legal person, the recipient’s full legal name and VAT identification number or tax identification number, where available, or another unique identifier established at the national level and the recipient’s beneficial owner as mandatorily disclosed by the recipient;

Removed:(b) in the case of a natural person, the first and last name(s) of the recipient, and place of residence;

Removed:(c) the amount received by the recipient, as well as reforms and investments under the Ukraine Plan this amount contributes to implement.

Removed:3. On an exceptional basis and where duly justified by the Ukrainian government, information referred to in paragraph 2 may not be published, where disclosure risks unduly threatening the rights and freedoms of the persons or entities concerned. Such information shall be transferred to the European Commission and to the Audit Board, who may overturn the decision not to publish such information.

Removed:4. Ukraine shall transmit electronically in a machine-readable format to the Commission at least once a year the data on the persons and entities referred to in paragraph 1 , in a machine-readable format to be defined in the Framework agreement referred to in Article 9(4), point (i).

Removed:The Commission shall prepare, in close cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities, a register of companies under oligarchic influence identified as potentially hampering free and fair competition on the market. Entities identified on this register shall not be eligible to receive funds under the Facility, subject to the necessary provisions on legal safeguards. This register shall be established by...[ six months after the entry into force of this Regulation] and updated quarterly.

Removed:Pillar II: Ukraine Investment Framework

Removed:1. Under the Ukraine Investment Framework the Commission shall provide the Union support to Ukraine in the form of budgetary guarantee, financial instruments or blending operations.

Removed:2. The Commission shall be supported by an operational board in the implementation of the Ukraine Investment Framework. The Commission shall propose the rules of procedure for the operational board.

Removed:3. The operational board of the Ukraine Investment Framework shall comprise representatives of the Commission, of each Member State, the European Parliament and representatives of the Ukrainian government and the Verkhovna Rada. Counterparts implementing the Ukraine Guarantee and financial instruments supported by the Ukraine Investment Framework may be given observer status. The Commission shall chair the operational board.

Removed:4. The operational board shall provide advice to the Commission on the choice of support modalities, the design of financial products to be deployed, and on non-eligible sectors. It shall formulate opinions on the use of Union support through the Ukraine Guarantee, financial instruments and blending operations.