Parliament Backs 6 Bills Tied to EU Funds After Months of Stalling

Ukraine’s parliament has backed six bills tied to EU financing, moving on commitments to donors that lawmakers had left stalled for months while the state treasury drained.Lawmakers adopted bills No. 15024 and No. 15437 in the second reading, while four others, covering euro payments, prosecutors, state company governance and the anti-corruption court, passed only on the first reading, the Ministry of Economy and the Environment wrote on Thursday.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.The votes follow a standoff that left Kyiv behind on its reform obligations. Parliament had been deadlocked since early 2026 over steps required under the EU’s Ukraine Facility and the $8.1 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, with the finance ministry sounding the alarm for almost a year, Kyiv Post reported in October.The EU said it would not release 2026 aid unless Ukraine implemented the bills. In October, on the third attempt, lawmakers scrapped the VAT exemption for low-value parcels, an IMF benchmark, and began filling six of 11 Accounting Chamber seats.About €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in EU support is tied to the steps covered by the six bills, the ministry wrote. To receive it, Kyiv must complete all legislative procedures, bring the changes into force and secure a positive assessment from the European Commission. The Ukraine Facility is the EU’s 2024-27 financial support program for Ukraine, paid out as Kyiv confirms the structural indicators of its Ukraine Plan. Other Topics of Interest Funds from foreign-owned businesses under Russian management are reportedly financing drones, military vehicles and electronic warfare equipment for troops fighting in Ukraine. “These decisions advance the implementation of the Ukraine Plan, on which the attraction of European funding under the Ukraine Facility depends,” the press release stated, quoting Minister of Economy and Environment Oleksandr Kravchenko.Bill No. 15024 introduces simplified bankruptcy proceedings for micro and small businesses, with shorter deadlines for court cases and more accessible debt settlement mechanisms. Bill No. 15437 restores certain state aid rules and the Antimonopoly Committee’s powers to oversee how aid is granted, while keeping the wartime exceptions in place under martial law. It also improves the monitoring of state aid and brings Ukraine’s system closer to EU rules.The four bills adopted in the first reading cover the following areas:No. 14327-d: creates the legal basis for Ukraine to join the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which would make cross-border euro transfers faster and cheaper, and aligns financial monitoring with EU standards.No. 16144: introduces competitive selection of prosecutors for senior posts with checks on competence and integrity, periodic performance reviews, and a wider list of disciplinary penalties.No. 16125: strengthens the powers of supervisory boards, introduces independent assessment of the boards themselves, and tightens internal audit, risk management and rules on large and related-party transactions to bring them closer to OECD standards.No. 16043: lets a single judge hear cases on unjustified assets and their recovery to the state, and scraps the mandatory three-judge panel for asset recovery cases linked to sanctions. Olena Hrazhdan is the Business Reporter at Kyiv Post, covering Ukraine’s markets, business, and economic policy. While she reports broadly on economic issues, her core focus is banking, finance, monetary and fiscal policy. Olena previously wrote for leading Ukrainian business media and became a Fellow of the International Monetary Fund’s Journalism Fellowship in 2024.