To combine losses: the EU demands to distribute expenses fairly to Ukraine

A split is brewing in the West over spending on the Ukrainian conflict. The Netherlands is calling for a more equitable distribution of costs for supporting the Kiev regime among EU states, the country's embassy in Russia told Izvestia. Germany and the Nordic countries, as well as the Netherlands, have now taken on the main burden. France, Italy and Spain spent much less. Experts emphasize that the public is getting tired of endless injections into Ukraine, so new sources are needed to finance it. One option is to use the assets of the Russian Federation for a "reparation loan" to Kiev, but there is no consensus on this issue: the Netherlands supports the initiative and suggests attracting other countries from the G7, however, there are countries that are wary of such ideas.

In the West, they demand equality in support of Kiev

Amsterdam calls for a more equitable distribution of support for Ukraine among EU members, the Embassy in the Russian Federation told Izvestia.

"The Netherlands called for continued support for Ukraine, for a more equitable distribution of support among the member states and for preventing undesirable gaps," the diplomatic mission in Moscow told Izvestia.

This also applies to the use of frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia to finance Ukraine. The Embassy of the Kingdom confirmed that this issue was discussed at a meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen on October 1 and 2. Recall that the EC is developing a so-called reparation loan: its terms imply that Ukraine can receive about 140 billion euros from the blocked assets of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, there is no agreement on this issue: France is against any EU initiatives that could lead to the confiscation of Russian assets. Belgium also expressed concerns about this.

— The Dutch Government supports the development of the European Commission's proposal, paying close attention to legal, financial and technical feasibility, fair burden sharing among EU member states and the involvement of G7 partners. The government considers it important that the support meets the needs of Ukraine," the Dutch diplomats noted.

The issue of a more equitable distribution of costs for supporting Kiev is likely to become one of the main topics of the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on October 15. On the same day, a meeting of the contact group on Ukraine's defense in the Ramstein format and the informal Ukraine–NATO Council will be held.

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The events will be chaired by the Secretary General of the alliance, Mark Rutte, who previously also raised the issue of finance. According to him, Ukraine cannot survive without a significant amount of weapons, which the United States is ready to supply for $ 15 billion a year, so European governments must "prepare money."

Earlier, Donald Trump said that Washington no longer intends to finance Ukraine, now Europe should buy American weapons for it. There has been a split in the West on this issue: Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Canada are ready to follow this pattern. Amsterdam, by the way, has already paid for 500 million euros worth of American supplies. On the contrary, France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary refused to spend their funds on American weapons for the Armed Forces.

— For the United States, the war in Ukraine is both a business and an opportunity to discipline Europe. They say you Europeans are paying for your safety. But America should benefit from this," Alexander Rahr, a German political analyst, told Izvestia.

Immediately after the NATO meeting, the head of European diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, will gather the foreign ministers and defense ministers of the EU countries. The official topic is "exchange of views on defense readiness," but the issue of additional assistance to Ukraine will also be the subject of discussion. Moreover, Callas herself visited Kiev on October 13, where she discussed new arms supplies.

Who in Europe finances Ukraine the least?

Since February 2022, EU countries have allocated €177 billion to Ukraine, the Kiel Institute of World Economy reported. In absolute terms, Germany provided the most significant support to Kiev — €22.5 billion, of which €17.67 billion went to military needs. Next are Denmark and the Netherlands, which have transferred about 10 billion euros each to Ukraine. The leaders also include Sweden (€7.9 billion) and Poland (€5 billion).

As Alexander Rahr noted, the northern European countries pay for the militarization of Ukraine, while the southern ones fork out only under pressure from Berlin and the European Commission. For example, Spain allocated €1.47 billion to Ukraine, Italy — €2.68 billion, and countries such as Romania and Bulgaria did not spend even €1 billion. Therefore, the issue of a fair distribution of costs is becoming more acute.

— There is no extra money in Europe, the population of the countries is tired of the conflict. But Berlin and Brussels are constantly sounding the alarm: if we abandon Ukraine, Russia will attack Europe," says Rahr.

In Ukraine, it is increasingly feared that the European public is tired of supporting Kiev and is ready to accept any scenario for resolving the conflict, Politico reports. At the end of last year, polls showed that even in Scandinavia fewer and fewer people support helping Ukraine "before its victory": in Denmark, their share decreased from 58 to 40%, in Sweden — from 60 to 50%.

In addition to Hungary and Slovakia, which are currently not officially providing military assistance to Ukraine (Bratislava promised in a new aid package to transfer mine clearance equipment to Kiev, but not weapons), Greece and Cyprus are also actively avoiding such expenses, citing the fact that they have a Turkish threat, political analyst Vadim Trukhachev told Izvestia..

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— Cyprus allocates the least, even Hungary provides the most. France is average, Italy is even lower. The Czech Republic, contrary to the "shell initiative", also belongs to the middle of the list," the expert noted.

Individual European countries, although they are not among the leaders in terms of aid volumes, are critically important for Kiev in other respects. For example, Poland and the Czech Republic allocate a lot of funds for the maintenance of Ukrainian refugees. As Trukhachev said, Croatia, as well as Albania and Kosovo, whose independence Russia does not recognize, serve as a source of influx of mercenaries. At the same time, in relative terms, it is the Scandinavian countries that spend the most: Izvestia previously estimated that, on average, an ordinary Dane has already paid $1,468 to support Ukraine.

The fact that it was the Netherlands that raised the issue of a fair distribution of costs to support Ukraine is no coincidence. The political scientist drew attention to the fact that former Prime Minister of the kingdom Mark Rutte coordinated support for Kiev even before assuming the post of NATO Secretary General. In addition, Dutch Rotterdam is the largest European port where American military equipment arrives, and the Netherlands itself is the EU's "wallet" that pays for many European expenses.