EU countries seek urgent plan B to fund Ukraine
www.politico.eu
Officials are looking at an EU bridging loan to help Kyiv stay afloat if they can’t agree on using Moscow’s frozen state assets in time.
BRUSSELS — European countries are working on an emergency plan B to stop Ukraine running out of money early next year in case they cannot reach a deal on raiding Russia’s frozen assets to fund Kyiv’s war effort.
Now, with peace talks intensifying, and Kyiv running short of cash, the question of what to do with the Russian assets has taken on a new urgency. “If we don’t move, others will move before us,” said one EU official, granted anonymity like others cited here, to speak freely.
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plan A:
One option gaining support is for a “bridging” loan, financed by EU borrowing [but then (someday, somehow) Ukr would pay that money back with frozen Russian assets], to keep Ukraine afloat during the first months of 2026, according to four officials. That would allow more time to set up the full reparations loan using the Russian assets in a way that Belgium can live with, to provide a longer term solution.
One option gaining support is for a “bridging” loan, financed by EU borrowing, to keep Ukraine afloat during the first months of 2026, according to four officials. That would allow more time to set up the full reparations loan using the Russian assets in a way that Belgium can live with, to provide a longer term solution.
Two diplomats said Ukraine could be asked to repay the initial bridging loan to the EU, once it has received funding from the long-term reparations loan. Another possibility would be a long-term solution involving a combination of the reparation loan and joint EU borrowing.
plan B:
There are still problems with creating a bridging loan using joint EU borrowing, which some commentators have described as “eurobonds” though others dislike the term.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle will be that this kind of EU borrowing would require unanimous support from the bloc’s 27 member countries and Hungary has long opposed new measures to help finance Ukraine’s war effort.
It is possible, however, that casting the bridging loan as designed for Ukraine’s reconstruction, rather than for funding its war machine, would help.
EU countries seek urgent plan B to fund Ukraine
Officials are looking at an EU bridging loan to help Kyiv stay afloat if they can’t agree on using Moscow’s frozen state assets in time.
www.politico.eu
Officials are looking at an EU bridging loan to help Kyiv stay afloat if they can’t agree on using Moscow’s frozen state assets in time.
BRUSSELS — European countries are working on an emergency plan B to stop Ukraine running out of money early next year in case they cannot reach a deal on raiding Russia’s frozen assets to fund Kyiv’s war effort.
Now, with peace talks intensifying, and Kyiv running short of cash, the question of what to do with the Russian assets has taken on a new urgency. “If we don’t move, others will move before us,” said one EU official, granted anonymity like others cited here, to speak freely.
---->
plan A:
One option gaining support is for a “bridging” loan, financed by EU borrowing [but then (someday, somehow) Ukr would pay that money back with frozen Russian assets], to keep Ukraine afloat during the first months of 2026, according to four officials. That would allow more time to set up the full reparations loan using the Russian assets in a way that Belgium can live with, to provide a longer term solution.
One option gaining support is for a “bridging” loan, financed by EU borrowing, to keep Ukraine afloat during the first months of 2026, according to four officials. That would allow more time to set up the full reparations loan using the Russian assets in a way that Belgium can live with, to provide a longer term solution.
Two diplomats said Ukraine could be asked to repay the initial bridging loan to the EU, once it has received funding from the long-term reparations loan. Another possibility would be a long-term solution involving a combination of the reparation loan and joint EU borrowing.
plan B:
There are still problems with creating a bridging loan using joint EU borrowing, which some commentators have described as “eurobonds” though others dislike the term.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle will be that this kind of EU borrowing would require unanimous support from the bloc’s 27 member countries and Hungary has long opposed new measures to help finance Ukraine’s war effort.
It is possible, however, that casting the bridging loan as designed for Ukraine’s reconstruction, rather than for funding its war machine, would help.
