EU freezes aid to Ukraine over public procurement
The EU has officially informed Ukraine of its suspension of funding of State bodies because of the amendments passed by the Verkhovna Rada to the procedure for public procurement. The newspaper Kommersant Ukraine reports that the President stated that there were problems linked with the amendments to the Law on Public Procurement during a meeting of the Economic Reform Committee.
Through amendments passed on 11 January, the Verkhovna Rada included energy goods, as well as water supply and drainage services among goods and services which do not require tender procedure.
The Law has already been passed by the President. It was this decision which aroused an adverse reaction from Brussels.
Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira has stated that the EU has suspended funding, and a source in Brussels expressed indignation that Kyiv should have increased the number of exceptions to tender legislation. “We are told that they need to buy these goods and services urgently because it’s winter and can’t wait. Yet winter isn’t some extraordinary event, but planned”, the source pointed out.
The sanctions have already meant that Ukraine has not received the planned instalment of 31 million Euros for programmes on increasing energy efficiency.
From a report at Ekonomichna Pravda