President Juncker in Ukraine: first bilateral visit to a third country

On Monday 30 March, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini will travel to Kyiv on what will be the President’s first bilateral visit to a third country since taking up office in November. President Juncker and High Representative/Vice-President Mogherini will meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and hold a joint press conference at the Presidential Administration (Bankova 3) at 14:00 (GMT+2). They will furthermore meet with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Groysman, and the heads of the political groups. President Juncker has also been invited to preside the National Reform Council alongside President Poroshenko.

The visit takes place only a few days after the European Parliament approved the Commission’s proposal for an additional €1.8bn in macro-financial assistance (MFA) to Ukraine. This comes on top of what the EU is already contributing. In 2014, the Commission disbursed €1.36bn under previous MFA programmes; the disbursement of a final tranche is expected this spring.