The EU Council approved the final version of the Brexit Aid Fund

EU ministers (EU Council) on Tuesday approved a fund to help Euroblock member states fight the negative effects of Brexit. The € 5 billion fund (2018 prices) will financially support the regions hardest hit by the UK's EU exit, as well as industries and communities to cover additional costs, compensate for losses, or directly combat other adverse economic and social impacts. In the media report, the EU Council recalled that the reserve is a special one-off emergency instrument. The aim of this instrument is to support public and private enterprises facing trade disruptions, including new costs for their own controls and administrative procedures. The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU has created an unprecedented situation, giving Member States the flexibility to decide on the best measures they need to take to avoid the various negative effects of Brexit. The establishment of the fund provides an exhaustive list of eligible measures from support for SMEs, regional and local communities and organizations, including small-scale coastal fishing dependent on fishing activities in British waters, as well as measures to support job creation and reintegration of returning EU citizens from Britain to European labor market. The reserve will finance measures introduced from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 to cover expenditure incurred before the end of the transitional post-period period. The EU Council has decided to pre-allocate all sources of the reserve, which at current prices amount to € 5.4 billion, taking into account the adverse impact of Brexit on each Member State. The method of calculating pre-allocation is determined by three main factors. The largest amount - EUR 4.5 billion - is divided according to the importance of trade with the United Kingdom, EUR 656 million is divided according to the importance of fishing in the UK's exclusive economic zone and EUR 273 million is divided according to the importance of neighboring connections for maritime border regions with the United Kingdom. The bulk of the resources, € 4.3 billion, will be available as pre-financing in three annual tranches - 2021, 2022 and 2023. The remaining resources will be made available in 2025 after a review of expenditure on eligible actions in previous years, taking into account all unused amounts. On Tuesday, the EU Council approved the European Parliament's position adopted in plenary on 15 September. This is the last legislative step in adopting a reserve to adjust the negative market effects of Brexit. The regulation will enter into force on the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU, which will take place in the first half of October.