Vitaly Saenko19:33, 01.10.23

The EU is considering various proposals to allocate 50 billion euros to finance Ukraine and another 20 billion euros for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The European Union is not waiting for a settlement of budgetary issues in the United States regarding assistance to Ukraine , but is increasing support.

As an UNIAN correspondent reports, Vice-President of the European Commission, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell said this at a press conference in Kyiv.

The EU High Representative expressed his understanding that the general public is interested in the latest decisions of the US Congress on budgetary issues.

“A few days ago another vote took place, when Democrats and some Republicans voted to allocate $300 million for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Therefore, we believe that we are on the right track,” Borrell said.

At the same time, he said that the EU was surprised that “the agreement at the last moment took on a form that we should deeply and thoroughly regret.” “We believe that this is not the last word. After hearing from President Biden, who called for this decision to be reconsidered, I hope that this will not be the final decision, and Ukraine will continue to have support from the United States,” Borrell emphasized.

“For our part, we did not wait until this decision was made to increase our offers to support Ukraine,” Borrell said. 

The EU High Representative recalled that the European Commission recently announced a proposal for member countries to allocate 50 billion euros to finance Ukraine.

Borrell also noted that earlier at an informal meeting of the EU Council in Toledo, he proposed creating an internal fund within the European Peace Fund worth 20 billion euros over a four-year period.

“The discussion continues. Everything needs to be considered together. But this shows that our support for Ukraine not only continues, but also increases,” Borrell emphasized. The EU High Representative hopes that member states will take appropriate decisions by the end of this year.

“We’ll see what happens in the United States. But from our side we will continue to maintain and increase our support,” Borrell said.

Reducing US budget spending

As UNIAN reported, in recent weeks the domestic political crisis has worsened in the United States against the backdrop of the actual start of the presidential election campaign. Due to the position of some Republicans advocating sharp cuts in budget spending, including assistance to Ukraine, Congress was unable to pass the state budget for the next fiscal year, starting on October 1, on time.

Getting aid to Ukraine approved by the US Congress is becoming increasingly difficult. Nearly half of House Republicans voted to eliminate $300 million from the defense budget earmarked for training Ukrainian soldiers and purchasing weapons.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova explained what this means for Ukraine . She is convinced that the adoption of the temporary US budget, which contains no new expenses to support Ukraine, means for the Ukrainian state to continue working with partners.

(c)UNIAN 2023