The EU Commission proposes that Ukraine will receive the equivalent of just over 30 billion Swedish kronor instead of the more than 45 billion they originally would have received in the upcoming aid payment, says the Commission's spokesperson Guillaume Mercier.
The money is part of a fund of around 500 billion kronor that the EU established last year, each payment is linked to a number of reforms that must be implemented in the country.
The reduced support is due to the fact that Ukraine in June admitted that they missed three of the 16 reform targets required for them to receive the money. One of the missed targets concerns the appointment of a judge to an anti-corruption court. Ukraine has twelve months to implement the three remaining reforms to be able to claim the additional 15 billion kronor that are being held back.
The proposal must first be approved by the Union's member states before it comes into force.
The reduction in aid money was already planned before Kyiv adopted the controversial law that abolished the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. The law led to street protests in the war-torn country and was criticized by several European countries.
The government has, however, presented a new proposal that will restore the independence of Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor (Sapo).
