European Council president responds to Merz's ultimatum on funding for Ukraine in 2027

European Council President António Costa has promised in a letter responding to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to allocate time for a broad discussion of funding for Ukraine's needs in 2027 during the informal EU summit in Dublin on 13 November.

Source: a letter from the European Council president to Merz

Details: In his letter, Costa confirmed his intention to hold a wide-ranging discussion on Ukraine during the upcoming informal meeting of EU leaders in Dublin on 13 November.

Costa said that, as he had noted in his response to a recent letter from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had asked him to determine who would represent the EU in peace negotiations concerning Ukraine, he would allocate time for a broad discussion on Ukraine at the upcoming informal meeting of the European Council in Dublin, particularly in light of ongoing developments.

The European Council president also said that Ukraine's financial needs for 2027 would be considered at a special EU summit in Brussels on 26-27 November.

Costa explained that the summit would focus on two issues: the EU's next multiannual financial framework and Ukraine's financial needs for 2027. He added that the European Commission was expected to submit its proposal on Ukraine's funding needs before the summit.

Background:

• As European Pravda previously reported, in a letter to European Council President António Costa, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made Germany's support for the EU's 2028-2034 budget conditional on all EU member states agreeing to finance Ukraine, which faces a €70 billion funding shortfall in 2027.
• In response, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico described Merz's letter as "blackmail".
• Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar also criticised Merz's proposal to link the adoption of the EU's seven-year budget to support for Ukraine, saying it was not the right approach.
• Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also stated that an agreement on future funding for Ukraine could not be made a precondition for adopting the EU's next seven-year budget.
• Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia are not participating in the €90 billion loan being provided to Ukraine in 2026-2027.

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