Netherlands allocates additional €700m to support Ukraine

The outgoing government of the Netherlands has allocated an additional €700 million to support Ukraine next year.

Source: Dutch public broadcaster NOS, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The allocation of additional funds for Ukraine has been made possible because other ministries will not be able to spend them by the end of this year.

The funds for Ukraine will be taken, among other sources, from the Defence Equipment Budget Fund and the budget of the Foreign Ministry, where some projects have been postponed.

The Netherlands annually allocates about €3.5 billion in aid to Ukraine. But this year, €2 billion from next year's budget has already been spent. For this reason, the Green-Labour alliance has proposed topping up the budget for 2026.

The decision to allocate €700 million to support Ukraine was made in response to this proposal.

At the beginning of next year, the government will consider where to find the remaining money.

In a letter to parliament, the defence, finance and foreign ministers also warned that it will be difficult to find additional funds in the budget next year: "The financial reality is that next year we will face constraints."

Background:

• At the end of November, outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof said during debates that he did not see the point of allocating additional billions for Ukraine right now. He believes that other countries, especially in southern Europe, should increase their support.
• This did not go down well in parliament. The cabinet was accused of taking an accountant's approach to governing.
• Schoof called this term "absolutely inappropriate", especially since the Netherlands does provide significant assistance to Ukraine. However, under pressure from the parliamentary majority, the prime minister backed down and promised to look into the proposal, while maintaining that now is not the right time.
• Recently, the Netherlands announced €35 million in funding for various types of material support to help Ukraine's defence forces get through the winter.
• In addition, the Netherlands has contributed €250 million for the purchase of US weapons for Ukraine under a NATO initiative.

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