Rescue teams examine the ruins of a building after a Russian attack on Kherson.
European leaders achieved the withdrawal of the veto on Poland
The countries of the European Union (EU) agreed on Thursday the macro-financial package of aid to Ukraine of 18,000 million euros and the minimum rate of 15% for multinationals. European leaders managed to withdraw the veto on Poland, which wanted to block the minimum tax at the last moment.
In this way, the Twenty-seven ensure the macro-financial aid package for Ukraine to meet its most urgent liquidity needs. The first disbursements are expected to start arriving in early 2023, after Hungary also recently withdrew its veto on this aid in exchange for approval of its recovery plan.
Yesterday’s European summit in Brussels also served to give new political impetus to the gas price cap mechanism. The leaders of the Twenty-seven agreed to summon the energy ministers to reach an agreement at their meeting next Monday. Until now, governments such as Germany and the Netherlands rejected it, since they consider that a tool of this type could endanger European energy security.
Also at the European summit, EU leaders gave Bosnia the status of a candidate for membership of the bloc. This decision was made despite concerns about the political situation in the country, which has been deeply divided since the end of the war three decades ago. For its part, Kosovo is considered a “potential candidate”, but its accession runs into the obstacle that seven states, such as Spain, do not recognize it as an independent country.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, the EU has expressed its intention to expand the bloc to achieve greater geopolitical weight. It recently granted candidate country status to Ukraine and Moldova and started talks with Albania and North Macedonia. In addition, the bloc has launched an initiative to create a European political community, with partner countries that share the same values.