6 Aug 2022 11:47 am
The Ukrainian head of state said in a video message to his people that the withholding of financial aid amounting to eight billion euros was either “a crime or a mistake” by Brussels. The deputy head of his office has meanwhile already identified a state as responsible for this delay.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has slammed the EU, accusing it of deliberately withholding €8 billion in promised aid from his country, despite the conflict with Russia.
“Every day and in different ways, I remind some EU governments that Ukrainian pensioners, our displaced persons, our teachers and other people who depend on payments from the budget should not be held hostage to their indecisiveness or bureaucracy,” Zelensky said on am last Thursday in a video message on Telegram. “I’m not going to say which European country is braking,” he said, because he still assumes it’s a mistake that can be corrected.
The European Union has temporarily suspended the transfer of 8 billion euros and according to Zelensky this is an “artificial delay in macro-financial assistance to our country and is either a crime or a mistake”. Although the president did not name the nations he blames for withholding the money in his message, Zelenskyy’s deputy chief of staff, Igor Zhovkva, announced earlier last week that Ukraine has received only 1 billion euros from Brussels so far , after “some EU countries, including Germany”, blocked the transfer of another 8 billion euros.
The Ministry of Finance in Berlin rejected the accusation. According to the EU Commission, guarantees from member states may be necessary for the outstanding amount because it is no longer possible to secure such amounts via the EU budget.
With Kyiv unable to plug the holes in its budget due to ongoing fighting and the poor economic situation, the EU pledged in May to provide Ukraine with nine billion euros in subsidies and soft loans by the end of 2022 It is expected to flow primarily from the United States, with the European Commission pledged to contribute $1 billion in grants and Germany pledged a similar amount, which Berlin has already committed.
The rest of the EU aid proposed in May is to be presented in a package announced for September, to which Germany will again contribute, according to a German finance ministry official who asked not to be named.
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