LIVE: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Holds News Conference on Ukraine

Thank you.

Thank you. Good morning everyone. As President said, we are now approaching the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Throughout this time, by bravely defending their homeland, Ukraine has also protected the entire European continent from Russian aggression. Europe can and must continue to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to ensure its financial stability and ability to defend itself. This is the only way we can secure a just and lasting peace. A peace which ensures real security for Ukraine and Europe in the long term. In December, EU leaders confirmed our resolve to help Ukraine to meet its urgent and sizable financing needs. Today we have taken the necessary step to put forward a proposal to deliver this crucial support. Allow me to highlight some important elements. The funds can be dispersed through either macro-financial assistance or the Ukraine Facility. On macro-financial assistance specifically, it is a tried and tested instrument for supporting Ukraine or countries in balance of payment difficulties. It is well suited to provide fast and flexible financial assistance while driving the implementation of meaningful reforms. It also complements and amplifies IMF programs as it has been demonstrated in Ukraine over the past decade. Both macro-financial assistance and the Ukraine Facility provide for strong conditionality, especially on the fight against corruption. The 60 billion euros indicatively allocated to support Ukraine's defense efforts will allow Ukraine to access the equipment it needs to defend itself and at the same time it will provide a very significant boost to the rapidly developing European and Ukrainian defense industries. Finally, as said before, Ukraine will only repay the Ukraine Support Loan if it receives reparations from Russia for the destruction its war has caused them. This is why the proposal also makes clear that, in line with the conclusion by the leaders, the Union reserves its right to use the cash balances from immobilized Russian assets held in the EU to repay the Ukraine Support Loan. Of course time is of essence as the European Commission will work with legislators to ensure swift adoption of today's proposals. It will also lie with Ukrainian authorities to prepare a financing strategy and in assuring steps needed to operationalize the support swiftly. With regards to broader support from our international partners, the implementation of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans initiative is progressing well. 35 billion euros have already been dispersed to Ukraine from G7 partners and the EU. And we will continue to engage closely with international partners including the G7 to ensure delivery on their commitments for 2026 and beyond. To conclude, supporting Ukraine is a litmus test for Europe. The outcome of Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine will determine Europe's future. Today's proposal shows that we are determined to continue providing Ukraine with the support it needs and it also represents a crucial investment in Europe's own security. Thank you.

Thank you. And we can now open the floor for questions. Yes, Sabina.

Thanks, Sabina Roset, news agency. There has been strong political attention on a possible buy European requirement. Will the loan apply the same eligibility rules on the geographical origin of defense procurement as the SAFE regulation and could you clarify how a possible derogation will work in practice to ensure that urgent deliveries are not late? And then if possible, I have a more technical question on the cost of servicing the debt. Does the Commission proposal also specify how interest payments will be covered within the current EU budget and if not, should we understand that the long-term solution is effectively being deferred to the MFF with the options being either additional national contributions or reallocation from existing programs? Thank you.

Commissioner, maybe on the second question, but we can go into details in the technical background.

Yeah, on the second question. So indeed our proposal also foresees interest loan subsidy for Ukraine and this interest loan subsidy for Ukraine will be covered by the contributions to the EU budget of the participating 24 EU member states as regards this financing period. And indeed in the context of the next MFF, a dedicated instrument to cover interest rates can be considered, but that will be part of the discussions concerning the next MFF.

Thank you. And we take a question from a Ukrainian media. Italy Freedom TV channel. My question I think for Commissioner Dombrovskis is Ukraine said that they need this money already in April at the start of the second quarter. How do you expect to finalize all this process quickly to ensure that this is possible to send first money in April, balancing conditionality? Thank you.

Well, indeed we are aware of Ukraine's sizable and urgent financing needs. That's why we are aiming indeed to start disbursing in April. On one hand, we will be engaging with EU co-legislators to ensure the swift legislative process, hopefully to be concluded by early March, which then would allow disbursements in April. And also in parallel, we'll be working with Ukrainian authorities on preparation of a financial strategy for this year so that all the necessary documents and steps can be taken in due time. And I would say also in previous years we had been working under very tight timelines with Ukrainian authorities and had been able to deliver. And in parallel, we are also working with other international partners which are providing financial support to Ukraine with the aim for them to frontload their financial contributions to the first quarter of this year so as to cover this funding gap which Ukraine is facing already in the first quarter. And I would say this work is advancing quite successfully.

Thank you and Thomas, please.

Hello. Thank you very much, Thomas Manilson, Euractiv. I have two questions. So one for Commissioner Dombrovskis. Could you just give us a bit more detail about the state of play of G7 support for Ukraine? Because obviously the Commission has estimated Ukraine needs 135 billion over the next two years. So how confident are you that this additional 45 billion will be covered by G7 partners? And then another question for President von der Leyen about a slightly different topic about Greenland. So we've heard recently that Defense Commissioner Kubilius has said that Article 42.7 would apply, this mutual assistance clause. Greenland obviously is not part of the EU but there are tens of thousands of European citizens, EU citizens living in Greenland. So in your view, would member states have an obligation to intervene to support Greenland, including providing military support to Greenland if the United States were to make military moves on Greenland? Thank you very much.