According to British journalists, France and Germany did not support a proposal that would allow Ukraine to transfer 6 billion euros, which was blocked by Hungary's veto.
Points of attention
- Emmanuel Macron's and Olaf Scholz's teams are facing constraints in providing financial and military aid to Ukraine due to budget deficit concerns.
- France's military aid for Ukraine is derived from frozen Russian assets, with allocations for artillery shells, self-propelled guns, and missile modernization.
- The fate of the new aid plan for Ukraine remains uncertain in Brussels, with Germany and France unable to implement their proposed strategies amid financial constraints.
New aid for Ukraine is under threat
It is important to understand that the European External Action Service has developed a special plan, according to which it proposed to allow members of the bloc to make voluntary contributions to the European Peace Fund.
This would make it possible to direct aid funds only by the decision of individual countries, and Hungary would actually lose the opportunity to promise the decision of the official Brussels regarding Ukraine.
Still, insiders say some member states, including France and Germany, have expressed concern about setting a precedent that could jeopardize the future of the EMF as a foreign policy tool.
In addition, it is emphasized that in some countries voluntary contributions may require the approval of national parliaments, which is not as simple as it seems.
Journalists have not yet been able to find out what kind of support the new plan for Ukraine can get in Brussels.
Germany and France cannot implement their plans for Ukraine
What is important to understand is that Emmanuel Macron's and Olaf Scholz's teams had to cut spending on financial and military aid to Ukraine.
According to analysts, both Paris and Berlin were forced to make these decisions in an effort to reduce the budget deficit, which could reach 6% of GDP in 2024.
In France, about 300 million euros of military aid for Ukraine is paid from the revenues from frozen Russian assets.
These funds will be used for the purchase of 155 mm artillery shells, Caesar self-propelled guns and fuel. 400-600 million will be generated by lower inflation rates and will go towards the modernization of SCALP and Aster missiles for Ukraine, Western journalists reported recently.
