KYIV, Apr. 6 (Ukrainian News) – The European Union said Thursday that the EU is demanding Ukraine privatize its oblenergos and raise the level of payments for electricity if it wants to get funds to complete the Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear blocs.
“We require a definite improvement in the energy sector from Ukraine. This means increasing payment collection and the privatization of oblenergo. These are not political conditions, but conditions that benefit Ukraine as well,” said the EU’s ambassador to Ukraine Andre Vanhaeverbeke.
He said that Ukraine’s progress in raising the level of payment for electricity consumed is obvious, and only the privatization of oblenergos remains, which should increase the level of the world economic and political elite’s trust in Ukraine’s reforms.
At the end of last year the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the EU announced their intention to provide Ukraine with a credit of $215 million and $585 million, respectively, for the completion of the blocs.
They also stipulated that the funding depended on the International Monetary Fund renewing its financing program, oblenergo privatization, and reforms in the fuel and energy sector.
The IMF has not renewed financing for Ukraine since December of last year, while the first tenders to sell Ukraine’s state-owned oblenergos, or energy supply companies, are scheduled for the end of April.
The only condition that Ukraine has fulfilled is increasing the level of payments for electricity, which have risen steadily since the beginning of the year and stood at 64 percent in March.
At the same time, President Leonid Kuchma and the Ukrainian government have criticized the EU’s and EBRD’s actions several times since the beginning of this year, accusing the organizations of delaying the release of the promised credits.
Ukrainian authorities say that Ukraine needs to finish constructing the R2-K4 blocs in order to compensate for the energy lost with the closure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant last December.
The cost of completing the two blocs is estimated at $1.4 billion.
