Scope and structure
1. Under the Ukraine Investment Framework, the Commission shall provide the Union support to Ukraine in the form of financial instruments, budgetary guarantees or blending operations, including technical assistance linked to the implementation of Pillar II.
2. The Commission shall be supported by a steering board in the implementation of the Ukraine Investment Framework (the ‘Steering Board’). The Steering Board shall adopt its rules of procedure.
3. The Steering Board shall comprise representatives of the Commission and of each Member State. Ukrainian authorities shall be invited to attend Steering Board meetings as appropriate. The European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada shall have observer status. Counterparts implementing the Ukraine Guarantee and financial instruments supported by the Ukraine Investment Framework, may be given observer status. The Commission shall chair the Steering Board.
4. The Steering Board shall provide strategic and operational guidance and support to the Commission on different aspects including risk profiles, the form of support, 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 including the concessionality levels, taking into account the relevant risk assessments. The Steering Board shall, where possible, adopt opinions by consensus.
5. The Commission shall ensure that Union support provided under the Ukraine Investment Framework is consistent with the Ukraine Plan and contributes to its implementation, and is complementary to Union support to Ukraine granted under other Union programmes and instruments, taking into account the promotion of corporate social responsibility and responsible business conduct, in particular by respecting internationally agreed guidelines, principles and conventions on investment.
6. At least 15 % of the guarantees provided under the Ukraine Investment Framework shall be used to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as defined in Article 2 of the Annex to Recommendation 2003/361/EC, including start-ups, including through financial tools which have as an objective to reduce the risk involved in the lending operations of Ukrainian banks.
7. For the purpose of Article 209(2), point (h), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the requirement on ex ante evaluations of financial instruments and budgetary guarantees shall be met by the positive assessments of the Ukraine Plan by the Commission, referred to in Article 19(1) of this Regulation.
8. The support under the Ukraine Investment Framework shall in particular serve the implementation of the Ukraine Plan while complementing the financing sources established by this Regulation.
9. At least 20 % of the overall amount corresponding to support under the Ukraine Investment Framework and to investments under the Ukraine Plan shall contribute, to the extent possible in a war-torn country, to climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental protection, including biodiversity conservation, and to the green transition.
10. The Commission shall report annually on the implementation of the support under the Ukraine Investment Framework in accordance with Article 41(4) and (5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. For that purpose, each counterpart of the Ukraine Guarantee and each entrusted entity implementing financial instruments shall provide on an annual basis the information necessary to allow the Commission to comply with its reporting obligations.
Additional contributions to the Ukraine Guarantee and to financial instruments
1. Member States, third countries, and third parties may contribute to the Ukraine Guarantee, and to the financial instruments set up under the Ukraine Investment Framework. Contributions to the Ukraine Guarantee shall be made in accordance with Article 218(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.
2. The contributions to the Ukraine Guarantee shall increase the amount of the Ukraine Guarantee without leading to additional contingent liabilities for the Union.
3. For all contributions referred to in paragraph 1, a contribution agreement shall be concluded between the Commission, on behalf of the Union, and the contributor. It shall contain, in particular, provisions concerning the payment conditions. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council simultaneously and without delay of the concluded contribution agreements.
Implementation of the Ukraine Guarantee and financial instruments
1. The Ukraine Guarantee and financial instruments supported under the Ukraine Investment Framework shall be implemented in indirect management pursuant to Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point (c), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.
2. The eligible counterparts for the purposes of the Ukraine Guarantee and the eligible entrusted entities for the purpose of financial instruments shall be those identified in Article 208(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, including those from third countries contributing to the Ukraine Guarantee in accordance with Article 29 of this Regulation. In addition, by way of derogation from Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point (c), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, bodies governed by private law of a Member State, or a third country which has contributed to the Ukraine Guarantee in accordance with Article 29 of this Regulation, and which provide adequate assurance of their financial and operational capacity shall be eligible for the purpose of the Ukraine Guarantee.
3. The Commission shall ensure the effective, efficient, needs-based and fair use of available resources among eligible counterparts and, where relevant, eligible entrusted entities, in an inclusive approach, while promoting cooperation between them and taking due account of their capacities, added value, experience and risk-taking capacity.
4. The Commission shall ensure a fair and transparent treatment for all eligible counterparts and all eligible entrusted entities and shall ensure that conflicts of interest are avoided throughout the implementation period of the Ukraine Investment Framework. In order to ensure complementarity, the Commission may request relevant information from eligible counterparts for the purpose of the Ukraine Guarantee or from eligible entrusted entities for the purpose of financial instruments about their non-EU-supported operations.
Ukraine Guarantee
1. The Ukraine Guarantee of EUR 7 800 000 000 in current prices shall be established to guarantee operations supporting the objectives of the Facility. The Ukraine Guarantee shall be independent of and autonomous from the External Action Guarantee and shall be granted as an irrevocable, unconditional and on demand guarantee in accordance with Article 219(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.
2. The Ukraine Guarantee shall be used to cover risks for the following types of operations aiming at supporting sovereign, sub-sovereign, non-commercial and commercial entities, and the private sector:
(a)
loans, including local currency loans;
(b)
guarantees;
(c)
counter-guarantees;
(d)
capital market instruments;
(e)
any other form of funding or credit enhancement, insurance, and equity or quasi-equity participations.
3. On behalf of the Union, the Commission shall conclude with eligible counterparts Ukraine Guarantee agreements until 31 December 2027. The Ukraine Guarantee may be granted gradually.
The Commission shall provide information on the signature of each Ukraine Guarantee agreement in the reports referred to in Article 28(10). Upon their request, those agreements shall be made available to the European Parliament and the Council without undue delay, taking into account the protection of confidential and commercially sensitive information.
4. When concluding Ukraine Guarantee agreements, the Commission shall take due account of the advice and guidance of the technical risk assessment group referred to in Article 33(8) of Regulation (EU) 2021/947 and of the Steering Board.
5. The Ukraine Guarantee agreements shall contain, in particular:
(a)
detailed rules on the coverage of the Ukraine Guarantee, estimated annual investments, requirements, eligibility, and procedures;
(b)
detailed rules on the provision of the Ukraine Guarantee, including its arrangements on the coverage and its defined coverage of portfolios and of projects of specific types of instruments, as well as a risk analysis of projects and project portfolios, including at sectoral, regional, and national levels;
(c)
a reference to the objectives and purpose of the Facility, an assessment of the needs and an indication of the expected results;
(d)
the remuneration of the Ukraine Guarantee, which shall be set on concessional terms reflecting the specific situation in a war-torn Ukraine, while taking into account the respective risk profiles of the investment programmes in order to ensure a level playing field;
(e)
requirements for the use of the Ukraine Guarantee, including payment conditions, such as specific time frames, interest to be paid on due amounts, expenses and recovery costs and possibly necessary liquidity arrangements;
(f)
claims procedures, including, but not limited to, triggering events and waiting periods, and procedures regarding the recovery of claims;
(g)
monitoring, reporting, transparency and evaluation obligations;
(h)
clear and accessible complaints procedures for third parties that could be affected by the implementation of projects supported by the Ukraine Guarantee.
6. The EIB Group shall implement operations in Ukraine, aiming at supporting Ukrainian sovereign entities and non-commercial sub-sovereign entities, covered with an indicative dedicated minimum amount of the Ukraine Guarantee of 25 % of the amount referred to in paragraph 1, which shall be granted in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Regulation.
7. The dedicated amount of the Ukraine Guarantee referred to in paragraph 6 shall be available for supporting EIB Group operations which have been approved by the relevant EIB Group Board by 31 December 2025. After that date, the remaining dedicated amount of the Ukraine Guarantee shall be available for all types of operations referred to in paragraph 6 to all eligible counterparts subject to paragraph 3.
8. The Commission may use up to 30 % of the amount referred in paragraph 1 of this Article to increase the amounts of the guarantee provided through External Action Guarantee agreements concluded pursuant to Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2021/947 subject to the following:
(a)
for the purpose of this paragraph, the Ukraine Guarantee shall be implemented by an amendment or an addendum to agreements concluded pursuant to Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2021/947 with the eligible counterparts selected pursuant to Article 35 of that Regulation increasing the guarantee amount under those agreements, to be signed within four months from the entry into force of this Regulation;
(b)
the eligible counterparts shall use the Ukraine Guarantee under this paragraph solely for the support of the implementation of the operations in Ukraine and only guarantee calls from operations in Ukraine are eligible for coverage by the Ukraine Guarantee under this paragraph;
(c)
by way of derogation from the second subparagraph of Article 36(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/947 the operations covered by the Ukraine Guarantee under this paragraph shall constitute a separate portfolio of Ukraine Guarantee and shall not be taken into account for the purposes of calculating the 65 % coverage referred to in Article 36(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/947;
(d)
the risk sharing in the separate portfolio of the Ukraine Guarantee shall ensure an alignment of interest between the Commission and the eligible counterpart in accordance with Article 209(2), point (e), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and the counterpart shall contribute with its own resources to this portfolio in accordance with Article 219(4) of that Regulation;
(e)
counterparts shall establish separate accounting and reporting for the implementation of the Ukraine Guarantee under this paragraph;
(f)
Article 32 of this Regulation shall apply to the provisioning of the Ukraine Guarantee under this paragraph, which shall be exclusively used for coverage of losses under the Ukraine Guarantee; the provisioning established under Article 31(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/947 shall not be used for the coverage of the operations under the Ukraine Guarantee.
9. The eligible counterpart shall approve financing and investment operations in accordance with its own rules and procedures and in compliance with the Ukraine Guarantee agreement.
10. The maximum period allowed for eligible counterparts to sign contracts with financial intermediaries or final recipients shall be three years after the conclusion of the relevant Ukraine Guarantee agreement, with possible extensions when an additional amount of guarantee is granted and the Ukraine Guarantee agreement is amended.
11. The Ukraine Guarantee may cover:
(a)
for debt instruments, the principal and all interests and amounts due to the selected eligible counterpart, but not received by it in accordance with the terms of the financing operations after an event of default has occurred;
(b)
for equity investments, the amounts invested and their associated funding costs;
(c)
for other financing and investment operations referred to in paragraph 2, the amounts used and their associated funding costs;
(d)
all relevant expenses and recovery costs related to an event of default, unless deducted from recovery proceeds.
12. For the purposes of the Commission’s accounting and its annual reporting of the risks covered by the Ukraine Guarantee to the European Parliament and the Council, and in accordance with Article 209(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, eligible counterparts with which a Ukraine Guarantee agreement has been concluded shall provide the Commission and the European Court of Auditors annually with the financial statements, audited by an independent external auditor, containing, among others, information on:
(a)
the risk assessment of financing and investment operations of the eligible counterparts, including information on Union liabilities measured in compliance with the accounting rules referred to in Article 80 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and International Public Sector Accounting Standards;
(b)
the outstanding financial obligation for the Union arising from the Ukraine Guarantee provided to the eligible counterparts and their financing and investment operations, broken down by individual operation.
13. The condition set out in Article 219(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 on contributions with own resources shall apply to each eligible counterpart allocated with a budgetary guarantee under the Ukraine Investment Framework on a portfolio basis.
14. The European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) risk management framework referred to in Article 33(7) of Regulation (EU) 2021/947, including the technical risk assessment group referred to in Article 33(8) of that Regulation, shall apply to the Ukraine Guarantee taking into account the objectives and principles of the Facility. The risk assessments for the Ukraine Guarantee shall be independent from the risk assessments of the EFSD+. The overall risk profile of operations covered by the Ukraine Guarantee may be different from the overall risk profile of the External Action Guarantee. The Commission shall ensure that the risk entailed by the guaranteed operations does not exceed the capacity of the Union budget to bear those risks as determined by the available budgetary resources and the provisioning rate referred to in Article 32(1) of this Regulation. In the framework of the reporting referred to in Article 28(10) of this Regulation, the Commission shall report annually on measures taken in this regard to the European Parliament and the Council.
Provisioning
1. The provisioning rate for the Ukraine Guarantee shall initially be 70 %.
By way of derogation from Article 211(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 in relation to the period of time for which global provisioning shall be constituted, the provisioning shall be constituted until 31 December 2027 and be equal to the amount of provisioning corresponding to the Ukraine Guarantee granted and may be constituted gradually to reflect progress in the selection and implementation of the financing and investment operations supporting the objectives of the Facility.
2. The provisioning rate shall be reviewed at least once a year following the entry into force of this Regulation. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of the outcome of that review.
3. The Commission is empowered to adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 41 of this Regulation to amend the provisioning rate while applying the criteria set out in Article 211(2) of the Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, and, where relevant, to increase or decrease the maximum amount of the Ukraine Guarantee referred to in Article 31(1) of this Regulation by up to 30 %. The Commission may only increase the maximum amount of the Ukraine Guarantee if the provisioning rate is decreased. Without prejudice to Article 31(3) of this Regulation, the Commission may provide that the increased amount of the Ukraine Guarantee shall be available for signature of guarantee agreements gradually over three years.
4. By way of derogation from Article 213 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the effective provisioning rate shall not apply to the provisioning set aside in the common provisioning fund in respect of the Ukraine Guarantee.
Grievance and redress mechanism
1. In view of possible grievances of third parties, including communities and individuals affected by projects supported by the Ukraine Guarantee, the Commission and the Union delegation in Ukraine shall publish on their websites direct references to the complaints mechanisms of the relevant counterparts that have concluded Ukraine Guarantee agreements with the Commission. The Commission shall also provide the possibility of directly receiving complaints related to the treatment of grievances by eligible counterparts. The Commission shall take information received through any complaints mechanisms into account in view of future cooperation with those counterparts.
2. Whenever possible, taking into account the protection of confidential and commercially sensitive information, the Commission shall publish on its web portal information on financing and investment operations and the essential elements of the Ukraine Guarantee agreements, including information on the legal identity of eligible counterparts, expected development benefits and complaints procedures.
3. In accordance with their transparency policies and Union rules on data protection and on access to documents and information, eligible counterparts shall make publicly available on their websites information relating to all financing and investment operations covered by the Ukraine Guarantee, in particular information relating to the manner in which those operations contribute to the achievement of the objectives and requirements of this Regulation. Where possible, such information shall be broken down at project level. Such information shall take into account the protection of confidential and commercially sensitive information. Eligible counterparts shall also publicise Union support in all information that they publish on financing and investment operations covered by the Ukraine Guarantee in accordance with this Regulation.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
