The European Parliament has given the green light to use the enhanced cooperation procedure, which paves the way for a €90 billion loan for financial support to Ukraine. This was reported by the Anadolu Agency (AA), BTA reports.
With their decision, MEPs supported a proposal by the EU Council to activate the mechanism, which allows a group of member states to act jointly when unanimity cannot be reached at the level of the entire union. Under the EU treaties, the implementation of this procedure requires the approval of the European Parliament.
The financial assistance was agreed by EU leaders during the European Council meeting in Brussels on 18 December, and the European Commission presented the formal proposal on 14 January.
The parliamentary announcement makes it clear that the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia have refused to support the loan, which necessitated the use of the enhanced cooperation mechanism.
The decision was adopted by 499 votes “in favour“, 135 “against“ and 24 “abstentions“. A day earlier, MEPs also approved an accelerated procedure for working on the loan and related proposals, which are to be discussed and agreed with the Council under the ordinary legislative procedure.