Denmark gets Europe's Ukraine export guarantee scheme underway
The deal with Danish export credit agency EIFO is the first of more than a dozen similar agreements expected in the next few weeks between EU lending arm the EIB Group, the European Commission and national agencies.
The overall facility is designed to back small and medium-sized firms which export to Ukraine, giving them protection if companies they deal with are impacted by the ongoing war with Russia.
According to the EU's Eurostat agency, exports from the EU to Ukraine jumped to nearly 43 billion euros ($49.11 billion) last year.
Up to 40 Danish companies are expected to benefit from the first agreement, while the likes of Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and some central and eastern European countries that export the most to Ukraine are expected to join soon.
The European Commission's Valdis Dombrovskis said the facility represented "a significant step forward in further integrating the EU and Ukrainian economies, which is a crucial element of Ukraine's (EU) accession process."
Kyiv's EU membership talks began last year, although a long and tough road lies ahead before it can join the bloc given the war with Russia.
Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who was in Washington on Wednesday to formally sign the high-profile minerals deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, said the EU export support would help grow trade.
Marjut Falkstedt, head of the European Investment Fund which provides the guarantees for the new export facility, said Denmark's sign-up was part of significant efforts made to get the facility up and running within a year.
($1 = 0.8757 euros)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
6 minutes ago
- Reuters
Shares in Novo Nordisk rise after Wegovy gets US nod for liver disease treatment
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Shares in Novo Nordisk ( opens new tab rose on Monday, after it got U.S. approval for its weight-loss drug Wegovy to treat a serious liver condition, positive news for the drugmaker that lost more than one-third of its market value in recent weeks. Novo's shares rose as much as 5% at opening and were trading 3.5% higher by 0711 GMT. Three weeks ago, investors wiped $70 billion off its market value, after Novo - which became Europe's most valuable listed company following the launch of Wegovy in 2021 - issued a profit warning and named a company veteran as new CEO. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval for Wegovy to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, making it the first GLP-1 class therapy cleared for the progressive liver condition that affects around 5% of adults in the United States. Rival Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab has published encouraging MASH data in a mid-stage trial with tirzepatide - the active ingredient in its popular diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss treatment Zepbound. "It is expected that this market exclusivity will only last for a transitional phase before Eli Lilly also launches a product on the market," said Nordnet analyst Per Hansen. Novo has also applied this year for approval in Europe and Japan. Its shares have lost more than two-thirds of their value since June last year, amid concerns that the Danish drugmaker is losing ground in the obesity drug race it started to rival Eli Lilly and "compounded" copycat drugs.
Daily Mail
6 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
What's YOUR phone network doing to stop scam and nuisance calls? We asked all of the biggest providers
Britons are being battered by millions of nuisance cold calls a year. Two in five phone users have received a suspicious call in the last three months, according to data from communications regulator Ofcom. Scammers frequently call out of the blue claiming to be from trusted businesses in the hope of gleaning personal information they can use to steal your money. They are able disguise their overseas numbers as UK numbers using a tactic known as spoofing. If you pick up and speak to them, they can clone your voice using artificial intelligence - allowing them to impersonate you and get past firms' security checks to confirm your identity. We look at what the biggest phone networks are doing to quell the high number of scam and spam calls plaguing Britons on their phones each day. O2 and Virgin Media Virgin Media and O2 use a service called Call Defence which uses AI to flag suspected nuisance and scam calls. The service analyses phone numbers and determines whether it could be a scam or spam call. Customers are alerted to any risk before picking up by a display showing 'suspected spam' to help them decide whether they want to answer the call or not. O2 was the first mobile provider to roll this out as a free service to its customers, with the technology flagging over 150million suspected scam and spam calls since launching last year. Landline customers can also prevent nuisance or scam calls. They can register their number with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) which will prevent unwanted calls or sign up for Virgin's Anonymous Caller Rejection which blocks incoming calls from withheld numbers. BT and EE EE provides a free of charge call screening service for its landline customers which has helped to block around 6million scam calls and flagged more than 57million as potential nuisance calls in the last year. There is a paid-for service called Scam Guard which customers add on to their phone plan at a cost of £1 per month. It was created in partnership with software firm Norton and offers nuisance and scam call labelling, dark web monitoring, and access to three months of free Cyber Security Duo, covering identity and device protection. BT is also deploying AI in the fight against nuisance calls, using a tool powered by US-based protection company Hiya which monitors incoming calls to notify customers of any suspected spam or scam calls. It introduced the scam prevention tool in May 2024 and in a four month period it stopped 2.7million scam calls and 17.7million 'nuisance' spam calls. Vodafone and Three The merger of Vodafone and Three completed in June 2025 when it became the biggest mobile network in the UK, serving around 29million customers. Vodafone Three does not currently offer a specific display feature to filter suspected scam calls and display them as scam or spam calls on customers' phones. The phone network giant is looking into this area as the technology evolves. Vodafone and Three say they collectively block 1.7million fraudulent calls to its customers each day. What can you do if you are plagued by scam calls The Financial Conduct Authority advises that customers treat all unexpected calls, emails and text messages with caution. Don't assume they are genuine, even if the person knows some basic information about you. Scam calls should be reported to the telecommunications watchdog, Ofcom, by forwarding them to 7726. Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at VPN service provider NordVPN says: 'If you are seeing a spike in spoof calls, speak to your provider and see what they can do. 'For example, EE offers Scam Guard that uses AI to filter out and label suspicious communications for a fee. 'They should be offering these services as standard, but it might still be worth paying for the service if you receive scam calls on a regular basis.'
The Independent
35 minutes ago
- The Independent
Reeves eyes environmental protection cuts to boost construction
& Archie Mitchell Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly preparing major reforms to environmental protections aimed at accelerating infrastructure building and boosting the economy. The proposed changes include making it more difficult for wildlife concerns to hold up developments and potentially tearing up parts of European environmental rules, The Times reported. Among the reforms under consideration are a smaller, UK-only list of protected species and replacing the EU's 'precautionary principle' with a new risk-benefit test for building projects. Ms Reeves is also exploring limits on legal challenges from environmental campaigners, having previously stated that economic growth should take precedence over certain wildlife protections. Treasury officials are reportedly drafting a new planning reform bill for these contentious changes, which are expected to face significant backlash from environmental groups.
