EU to provide Ukraine with €90bn to cover two-thirds of its financing needs in 2026-27

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on 3 December that the European Union plans to cover two-thirds of Ukraine's external financing needs in 2026 and 2027, amounting to about €90 billion.

Source: European Pravda

Quote: "Today, we are proposing to cover two-thirds of Ukraine's financing needs for the next two years, so this is €90 billion. The remainder would be for international partners to cover."

Details: Von der Leyen also explained how the EU will use these funds to benefit Ukraine.

"First, we would use the money for Ukraine budget support, and here we would build on the success of existing instruments. You know them both. That is, on one hand, either macro-financial assistance and/or the Ukraine Facility," she said.

The second area of use for the funds, according to von der Leyen, is military support for Ukraine.

"Here, the main goal is to further boost Ukraine's defence industrial capabilities and integrate their capacities into our defence industrial base," the European Commission president said.

In military support for Ukraine, the EU intends to apply the so-called Cascading principle – giving priority to producers within the EU's borders.

Quote: "The funds would be used predominantly to produce and purchase from Ukraine and the European Union and so-called EEA [European Economic Area] after countries. But if we have urgent needs that cannot be met by Ukraine or the European Union, then we allow with this money the purchase of these urgent needs from outside."

Background:

• On 3 December, the European Commission announced two decisions that will allow the EU to cover Ukraine's financial needs in 2026-27: a reparations loan based on frozen Russian assets and joint EU borrowing on external markets.
• Even before the new proposal was made public, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said it was absolutely unacceptable to Belgium.
• At the end of November, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever outlined Belgium's comments and demands regarding Russian assets in a letter to von der Leyen.
• Other EU countries are opposed to granting Belgium unlimited guarantees to release the loan for Ukraine.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!