European leaders are drawing up a “Plan B” to provide Ukraine with emergency funds as Hungary appears set to block a €50 billion lifeline to Kyiv.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has threatened to veto the European Union’s attempt to provide the much-needed finances as well as formal negotiations on the war-torn country joining the bloc at a summit later this week.
Ukraine has warned it will be on the “edge of survival” without the money as weapons supplies slow down amid faltering Western support and the war in Gaza.
Senior EU figures, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky have lobbied hard for Budapest to overturn its opposition to both proposals.
But with time running out ahead of the crunch meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, national capitals have turned to private talks over an inter-governmental deal that could provide Kyiv with finances for at least a year.
‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’
“Where there is a will, there’s a way,” a senior EU official said.
“If we’re talking money, you can think of the budget as the EU’s own resource but you also have national contributions,” the source added.
“I’m not sure everyone will agree, but we need to look into the possibilities.”
An intergovernmental agreement between willing member states would provide Ukraine with a series of loans and grants to keep its economy afloat.
But it would likely get bogged down in legal complexities and fail to provide Kyiv with the full €50 billion of support envisaged.
Largest economies to shoulder most of burden
The EU’s largest economies, Germany, France and Italy, would have to shoulder most of the burden of the cost of the project.
“Nobody wants to do this if we don’t have to… But it would be reckless not to have a plan B,” one source briefed on the discussions told the Financial Times.