Die Welt: Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia do not want to participate in new loan to Ukraine

Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia do not want to participate in the financial provision of a new loan to Ukraine.

This is reported by the newspaper Die Welt.

According to the publication, European countries expect to agree on an aid package of approximately €45 billion. Ukraine’s total need for additional financing is estimated at approximately €70 billion; the remaining part could be covered by Canada, Japan and other partners.

Czechia and Slovakia have already made clear that they do not want to participate in the new credit mechanism. Hungary’s refusal is also expected.

German diplomats are displeased that these three countries want to be exempted from financial risks on the loan to Ukraine, but at the same time are seeking an increase in EU spending on support for less developed regions, including through cohesion funds.

“Taxpayers should not additionally finance countries that refuse to participate in ensuring common European security,” one of the diplomats said.

Supporters of preserving regional financing, on the contrary, warn that the task of supporting Ukraine must not be solved at the expense of cutting EU internal programs.

Earlier, these three countries already did not participate in the guarantees for the EU’s 90-billion loan to Ukraine. Now Bulgaria will most likely join them.

Recently, the newspaper Politico wrote that the EU wants to resolve the issue of Ukraine’s budget deficit for next year by the end of December.