European Parliament Approves €150 million Aid for Georgia

The European Parliament on Friday approved €3 billion in loans to help EU neighbors and partner countries deal with the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

The loans will help avert financial instability in beneficiary countries. 

The loans, which will be given on highly favorable terms and disbursed over a year, will help the following ten countries whose economies have been pushed into a recession by the pandemic: the Republic of Albania (€180 million), Bosnia and Herzegovina (€250 million), Georgia (€150 million), the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (€200 million), Kosovo (€100 million), the Republic of Moldova (€100 million), Montenegro (€60 million), the Republic of North Macedonia (€160 million), the Republic of Tunisia (€600 million) and Ukraine (€1.2 billion).

The goal of the funding is to allow these countries to mitigate the negative social and economic effects of the crisis while preserving the state’s financial stability.

To speed up the disbursement of the assistance, Parliament voted on its approval in the urgent procedure. The decision was adopted by 547 votes in favor, 93 against and 47 abstentions.

The assistance can start being disbursed once the countries sign their respective Memorandum of Understanding, which will list the conditions of the loans. The European Commission expects the first tranche to be disbursed in the autumn of 2020, and the second and final tranche in early 2021.

Source: europarl.europa.eu