Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has expressed opposition to earmarking tens of billions of additional euros of borrowed EU money for Ukraine in the bloc’s next seven-year budget, exposing cracks behind the show of unity at the October 15-16 Brussels summit. The Commission’s original €100bn proposal has already been cut to €89bn in compromise drafts.
Babis told reporters that the money should not be included in the multi-year financial framework, where member states don’t have enough money. He also stated that Czechia will not guarantee the funds.
Ukraine support had appeared to be a point of agreement among leaders, but Babis’s objection, along with Belgium’s refusal to discuss using Russia’s frozen central bank assets, highlights the challenges in paying for Kyiv’s war after all US help has stopped. Under the Biden administration, the US contributed at least 40% of the funding Ukraine needed, much of it as grants that don’t have to be repaid.
Babis also criticized US President Donald Trump, saying he “betrayed us” by concluding a business deal with Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also criticized Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow.
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Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has refused to reopen the question of using frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv’s war. The assets are currently held at Euroclear, and any decision to use them would require unanimity. De Wever stated that some leaders may want to use the assets sooner, but he does not want to discuss it. Germany’s Friedrich Merz has also rejected a US proposal to move part of the assets into a vehicle overseen by Washington.
Zelenskiy has asked leaders to keep Moldova’s EU membership bid tied to Ukraine’s, despite Chisinau moving faster. Both countries have opened two more EU accession clusters this month. Zelenskiy argued that Ukraine protects Moldova from Russian meddling through Transnistria, work that means pulling some forces from other tasks.
A senior EU official noted that Moldova is adopting EU laws faster than any country since Hungary in 2002. French President Emmanuel Macron said accession should move “based on each country’s own merits.”
