EU leaders race to save Ukraine funding deal as Kyiv’s cash runs low

The Guardian ^ | Fri 5 Dec 2025 | Jon Henley

[MinorityRepublican]

Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will meet the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, and Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, for emergency talks on Friday as the EU races to save its sorely needed financing plan for Ukraine.

The three leaders will dine in private in Brussels, a German government spokesperson said on Thursday, as Belgian officials continued to express strong opposition to the scheme, which involves the unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets.

With Russia’s attacks intensifying, Washington pushing for a peace deal that favours Moscow and Kyiv fast running out of money and Europe struggling for influence at US-led talks, the bloc must find a solution or suffer a major blow to its credibility.

Two weeks before a crucial 18 December EU summit, von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed two main options for the EU to raise the tens of billions of euros Ukraine needs to keep funding its struggling military and basic services against Russia’s war.

The EU has pledged to keep Ukraine afloat next year. It aims to raise €90bn (£80bn) to meet about two-thirds of Kyiv’s needs for 2026 and 2027, von der Leyen said, giving Ukraine the means to negotiate a peace deal “from a position of strength”.

The bloc could either borrow against its shared budget on the international markets, the commission president said, or issue a loan secured by immobilised Russian assets – mainly held in Belgium – that Kyiv would repay from Russia’s postwar reparations.

There are, however, obstacles to both alternatives. Many member states are not keen on common borrowing, which would have to be repaid. It would also need unanimity, which may prove difficult given Hungary’s past opposition to funding for Ukraine.

[mass55th]

Go EU Go!! Destroy yourselves even more funding an endless war. We’ll sit back and watch you all go even farther down the hole.

[rdcbn1]

The bloc could either borrow against its shared budget on the international markets, the commission president said, or issue a loan secured by immobilised Russian assets – mainly held in Belgium – that Kyiv would repay from Russia's postwar reparations.

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So the EU is going to loan Ukraine money secured by frozen Russian assets held by Belgium that will be paid back by as of yet non existent Russian war reparations

Well all righty then -problem solved . Why didn't I think of that one

[House Atreides]

GIBS-ME-MO’-BILLIONS! QUICKLY.

TU DINERO ES MI DINERO.

[House Atreides]

твої гроші - мої гроші.

[SaxxonWoods]

Don’t build up your own military, idiots. Send it down the drain.

[NavyShoe]

Brussels will rue the day they steal those frozen monies. It will be their downfall.

[butlerweave]

EU just fined X some now the have some cash ,LOL

[RetiredTexasVet]

That shouldn’t be too difficult. Just seize the bank accounts in the EU of all the corrupt Ukrainian pols ... plenty of cash. If not enough, seize their estates, mansion, boats, etc. and sell them.

[citizen]

Yeah, I noticed that. Under this plan, Russia will pay back Russia.

[citizen]

Lol I like that!

But, for them, seizing the cash of crooked politicians would set a bad precedent - for the crooked politicians the world over.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Maybe the EU needs to think this through. If you freeze and then confiscate a foreign nations assets not because you’ve been attacked - but because you object their actions against an ally.

If this happens you will have fatally wounded the world’s banking system. Who would want to invest in another country, knowing that the money could be confiscated for governmental actions against a third party?

China invades Taiwan. Do we then seize all privately owned Chinese assets? Do the Chinese then seize ours?

[Toughluck_freeper]

“Don’t build up your own military, idiots. Send it down the drain”

I remember when in his first term the NATO delegates where snickering and some were laughing at President Trump when he shamed them for not contributing at last 2% for their own defense, and Germany (one of the worst offenders) responded it had a ‘plan’ to slowly increase 1 point something to finally two percent in five years? (ten years? don’t remember).

Shows how ‘smart’ those NATO representatives were.
About a year ago, one of the same representatives was shown crying, CRYING! about how bad things had gotten.