Financial seekers: EU prepares new loan for Ukraine after 2027
Brussels has begun planning new financial assistance to Kiev, which it will receive after 2027, the head of the EP delegation for cooperation with Ukraine, Pekka Tovery, told Izvestia. The current European loan of €90 billion is calculated just before the end of next year. At the same time, Kiev, according to Tovery, already needs additional support in the amount of 30-45 billion euros, which is being sought by the G7 and NATO. However, not all countries are ready to re-engage in financial adventures for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Whether the EU will be able to find new sources of financing for the Zelensky regime is in the Izvestia article.
EU will continue financing Ukraine
The European Union is discussing the allocation of a new loan to Ukraine in the event of a continuation of the conflict after 2027, the head of the Ukraine–EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in the European Parliament (EP) Pekka Tovery told Izvestia. And this is despite the fact that the association recently managed with great difficulty to agree on a loan of €90 billion.
"Discussions and planning for the future are already underway so that there will be no gaps in support after 2027," said Tovery, answering a question about a new loan for Kiev.
Ukraine has already received the first tranche of a loan of €90 billion for 2026-2027. Payments of €3.2 billion are intended to cover the budget deficit, but the next transfer of €6 billion — for the production of UAVs — is delayed. Obviously, the approval of the trenches is creaking. It is known that two thirds of these €90 billion are intended for military purposes, and €30 billion for macro—financial assistance. At the same time, most of the money will return to the European Union one way or another, since Kiev, according to the terms, must purchase weapons primarily from its European suppliers.
However, even these funds are clearly not enough for Ukraine — last year, Kiev announced that about $60 billion (€52.7 billion) is needed annually to continue the conflict. The European Commission estimated the total external financing needs of the Zelensky regime for 2026-2027 at €135.7 billion. Therefore, Ukraine is waiting for additional support from the EU member states and other allies.
— Since the amount of EU funding this year and next is only €90 billion, additional support from the Member states (EU - Ed.) and other donors is needed. It should amount to about €30-45 billion," Pekka Toveri said.
The European Union is counting on its G7 partners in this matter — Great Britain, Canada, the United States and Japan. In particular, EC President Ursula von der Leyen raised the issue of financial assistance to Ukraine at the recent summit of the association in Evian, France. And if the United States sharply reduced its gratuitous support to a symbolic minimum with the advent of the Trump administration, other G7 participants continue to actively help Kiev.
In particular, Germany has proposed to allocate €70 billion through NATO, an initiative that will be discussed at the Ankara summit on July 7-8. But it seems that money is being "driven in circles", pretending to be proactive. According to Politico's sources, the amount under discussion will not consist entirely of new funds. About €30 billion can be provided through an already agreed two-year loan of €90 billion, but another €40 billion will be received as part of the bilateral commitments of the allied countries.
Slovakia, for example, has already refused to participate in this initiative, and Bulgaria, where Rumen Radev came to power, may also join it. The former president, now prime minister, opposes outright support for Ukraine and supports dialogue with the Russian Federation.
Who in the EU is against new loans to Ukraine
Kiev receives its main funding through the European Union. Today, supporting Ukraine and weakening Russia is a strategic task of the EU, Natalia Yeremina, a professor at St. Petersburg State University, emphasized in a conversation with Izvestia. Therefore, the allocation of funds will still continue due to the redistribution of resources, and a new loan for Kiev from the EU is very likely.
In this regard, Brussels is quite flexible. So, the EU leadership first tried to give the mentioned loan of €90 billion to Ukraine at the expense of frozen Russian assets. However, Belgium, Hungary and Slovakia officially opposed this idea, and, according to media reports, Italy and France were also among the opponents. Therefore, Brussels changed its plans, allocating money under its own guarantees, but it was possible to approve it only in April, after the defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the elections. At the same time, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic negotiated for themselves the right not to participate in this scheme.
If the European Commission comes up with a new initiative to finance Ukraine, the likelihood of its potential approval is quite high, albeit with traditional delays, Egor Sergeev, a senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies, told Izvestia.
— The EU considers the availability of such instruments not too burdensome for itself. Funds are raised on the financial market, and not from the budgets of the member states, the general budget of the EU serves only as a guarantee. At the same time, future loan payments should be made by Ukraine itself," he explained.
At the same time, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia are likely to oppose the new loan again, Natalia Eremina believes. However, Brussels may put pressure on the dissenters by threatening to stop their financing from euro funds. Moreover, Budapest, Bratislava and Sofia are not among their financial donors and depend on European tranches. For example, Brussels has already frozen financing for Hungary under Orban, justifying this by the level of corruption in the country and compliance with the "rule of law."
Since 2022, the European Union has allocated a whopping €200 billion in military and economic assistance to Ukraine. According to the EC, about €113 billion of this is allocated to maintain financial stability so that Kiev can pay salaries, pensions and benefits. Another €77 billion is military aid. The rest of the funds are used for "humanitarian needs." At the same time, demands are growing to strengthen control over their spending due to a series of corruption scandals in the Ukrainian elite - for example, the former head of Zelensky's office, Andriy Ermak, is under investigation.
It is obvious that the continued financing of Ukraine by the EU is only prolonging the conflict. For six months of discussions on the need for dialogue with the Russian Federation, the European Union has not come to a consensus. And the recently revealed attempt by the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, to establish a communication channel with Moscow has provoked opposition from a number of countries, led by Berlin and Paris. The association continues to be dominated by opponents of dialogue, who insist on increasing aid to Ukraine. After the reduction of American aid to Kiev, it was Brussels that became the main donor to the Zelensky regime. And therefore, without the consent of the European Union, Ukraine is unlikely to return to negotiations with Russia voluntarily.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
