The European Commission has decided to create a Support group for Ukraine aimed at helping Ukrainian authorities to have all the support they need to undertake reforms needed to stabilise the country.

The Support Group will provide a focal point, structure, overview and guidance for the Commission’s work to support Ukraine. It will also help mobilise Member States’ expertise and further enhance coordination with other donors and the International Financing Institutions, the Commission said in a statement.

Commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy Stefan Füle will coordinate this Support Group, which will report to the President and the High Representative/Vice- President and will draw on the contributions of all relevant Commission portfolios.

“The European Commission is determined to help Ukraine for the long term”, said President Jose Manuel Barroso.

“The Commission has already proposed an overall support package worth of at least €11 billion over the next couple of years and some of these measures are already being rolled out. The political chapters of the Association Agreement have been signed, sealing the free and democratic choice of Ukraine to be closely associated with the European Union,” he said.

“Today’s decision to create a Support Group will ensure that the Ukrainian authorities have all the support they need in undertaking the political and economic reforms that are necessary to stabilise the country. Our common goal is to have a democratic, independent and prosperous Ukraine,” Barroso added.

The work of the Support Group will be based on the “European agenda for reform”, a document prepared with the Ukrainian authorities to match the EU’s short- and mid-term support actions with Ukraine needs.

The Support Group will be based in Brussels, with its staff travelling to Ukraine as necessary. Ukraine will be invited to set up a central co-ordination structure able to oversee the implementation of the broad reform programme as well as the Association Agreement and to co-ordinate the work on the creation of the necessary national bodies/structures.

Full statement at: press-release_IP-14-413