Ukraine Warupdated 20m ago3 min read
Merz Demands EU Budget Changes, Warns Talks Won’t Conclude Without Ukraine Funding
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Merz ties EU budget approval to unanimous Ukraine funding by all member states. Slovak PM Fico calls Merz's Ukraine funding demand 'blackmail'.
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Merz ties budget to aid
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the EU's next long-term budget must include firm financial support for Ukraine and warned that negotiations cannot conclude soon without significant revisions to budget proposals. Merz said, "The multiannual financial framework must be fit for the future – which includes ensuring that we do not waver in our financial support for Ukraine," and he added that it was "a matter of collective European security, and therefore a task for us all," at a joint news conference in Berlin with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar. Merz also said he expected to see "significant changes" in new proposals by European Council President Antonio Costa, and he warned that without such changes it would not be possible to conclude negotiations anytime soon.
Merz said the EU had agreed last December to provide Kyiv with a €90 billion loan covering 2026 and 2027, but he pointed to a projected €70 billion financing gap and said the European Commission was examining options to cover roughly two-thirds of the additional requirement, or about €45 billion, aiming for an agreement by the end of the year. Merz said EU leaders were expected to discuss ways to resolve disagreements at an informal summit in Dublin on Friday, after media reports said he had warned Costa in a letter that Germany would not support the EU's 2028-2034 budget unless all member states agreed to help close Ukraine's projected €70 billion financing gap.
Fico calls it blackmail
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of "blackmail" over Berlin's push to link Ukraine financing to progress in negotiations over the bloc's next long-term budget. Fico told journalists in Bratislava, "I will not yield to that," and he said, "We are a sovereign country," in response to Merz's demand that EU countries must "without exception" contribute to Ukraine financing. Merz responded at a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar by saying Ukraine support was "a common European task, not the task of individual member states," and he argued that the question of how the EU would finance Ukraine belongs in budget discussions.
Fico and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš both rejected Merz's demand, and Babiš said, "I don't know why he says that," while both leaders opposed military aid for Ukraine. The dispute centered on the European Commission's estimate that the funding gap for Ukraine aid next year was 70 billion euros, with the EU expected to cover 45 billion euros, after the EU had already approved 90 billion euros for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027.
Abu Dhabi talks and stakes
The EU's budget dispute unfolded as the bloc prepared to send a joint team of senior officials to the US-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia taking place in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. Euronews said the delegation would be led by Björn Seibert, head of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's cabinet, and Anna-Maria Boura, chief foreign policy adviser to European Council President António Costa, and it said the EU team would be joined by national security advisers from France, Germany and the UK. Euronews also quoted von der Leyen saying, "Any meaningful discussions about Europe's security architecture can only be undertaken once a ceasefire in Ukraine has been achieved," and it said the statement was an indirect reply to US Special Envoy Jared Kushner.
The same reporting said Ukraine's delegation chief Rustem Umerov confirmed that Kyiv would hold separate coordination meetings with its European partners in Abu Dhabi, while the main negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the US were expected to stay trilateral. Euronews framed the immediate stakes for the EU as a budget gamble in which Merz threatened to block the EU's next long-term budget unless all member states committed to financing Ukraine beyond 2027, with the EU intending to cover roughly €45bn of a projected €70bn funding shortfall next year.