EU countries’ envoys discussed options with the European Commission at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. Countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Luxembourg all pushed the Commission to keep working on proposals to finance Ukraine, according to one official briefed on the discussion.
The prospect of a bridge financing model had been raised on Nov. 4 by EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who noted: “The longer we now run delays, the more challenging it will become.”
Urgency
The Commission is acutely aware of the need to get a solution in place urgently, with Kyiv warning it faces running out of money in the first few months of next year.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said EU allies will finalize “in the coming days” a solution that will “secure funding” and “give visibility to Ukraine.”
In the longer term, the reparations loan is widely seen as the only game in town. There is no appetite among EU member countries to dip into their own national budgets to send cash grants to Ukraine. Many are already struggling with budget deficits and high borrowing costs. Persuading the Belgians to come on board ultimately is therefore seen as key.
“We hope to be able to solve their hesitation,” one EU diplomat said. “We really do not see any other possible option than the reparations loan.” One idea would be to “combine the reparations loan option with one of the other options” the diplomat said. But this must “not take too much time because of course there’s a sense of urgency now and it’s pressing.”