Le Pen: France can no longer finance Ukraine due to budget problems

Marine Le Pen, leader of the French party National Rally, has said that France can no longer provide financial aid to Ukraine due to its deteriorating financial situation, even though Paris has already given Kyiv “a significant volume of assistance.”

“This is not an act of hostility toward Ukraine. We can continue to train their soldiers, their armies, we can continue to supply them with equipment so they can defend themselves. But financially, we can no longer do this. Because we cannot, on the one hand, say there is not a single euro… for pension indexation, while on the other hand, there are billions for contributions to the European Union,” Le Pen said in an interview with Le Figaro.

In this way, Le Pen draws a distinction between the military and financial components of support for Ukraine: she is not calling for an end to training soldiers or supplying equipment, but insists on halting direct monetary funding.

The politician separately criticizes France’s contributions to the European Union budget. In August, she complained that this contribution had risen sharply in recent years, while the EU “provides virtually no assistance” to the French economy.

According to the Financial Times, French authorities fear that a Le Pen victory in the 2027 presidential election “could derail a significant part of” the European Union’s agenda. The publication also notes that Le Pen “has made it clear” she does not want France to fund the EU at its usual level.