With available alternatives seeming limited, the cumulative EU debt intended for Ukrainian aid is expected to soon surpass the €200 billion mark. According to calculations published by “Welt am Sonntag”, which utilized figures from the European Commission, Brussels will likely have to pass on more than another €40 billion in joint credits to Kyiv, on top of the €166 billion already transferred.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recently announced an additional financial need amounting to €70 billion. Current planning indicates that the EU will cover €46 billion of this request. A portion of this aid is slated to be financed through the interest generated by frozen Russian assets in Europe. However, EU Commission data shows this interest totals approximately €4 billion annually. Since legal restrictions prevent the core capital stock of the Russian assets from being touched, taking on new joint debt appears to be the most probable and necessary alternative.
This influx of aid has drawn strong criticism from political figures. Dietmar Bartsch, a politician from The Left, argued that ordinary citizens should not have to financially suffer for Putin’s war. He stressed that Ukrainian support must not result in domestic social cuts. Bartsch also urged that both Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and the EU must finally become an active player in peace negotiations.
In contrast, Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), advocates for issuing joint European bonds to fund the war. Fratzscher suggested that these bonds should eventually be backed by common taxation. He concluded that the key factors guiding the decision-making process must be the overall funding requirements, the verifiable effectiveness of the funds, and the long-term economic and security interests of Europe.
