The European Union will make the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia pay a political price for refusing to finance Ukraine and provide the country with money as part of a 90 billion euro loan.
The Financial Times wrote about this, mentioning a high-ranking European official.
“They don't have to pay, but we will make them pay (politically),” FT quoted a senior European official as saying.
The publication writes that the plan approved by the EU on December 19 to provide Ukraine with a loan guaranteed by the EU budget “will not incur any financial obligations for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia,” as these three countries do not support the use of EU funds to finance Ukraine.
The FT writes mainly that France and Italy have proposed using the EU's common budget to grant a loan to Ukraine.
A loan worth 90 billion euros is expected to be raised from unused funds from the EU's general budget to finance Ukraine over the next two years. This loan will be interest-free and Kiev will only be allowed to repay it after Russia has “compensated”. European Council President Antonio Costa noted that the money will be used to cover Ukraine's main financial needs in 2026-2027. German Chancellor Fradrich Merz explained that this money will be transferred to Ukraine from the second half of January 2026.
At the same time, the EU can still confiscate Russian assets to repay loans to Ukraine, and the European Council has directed the European Commission to continue working on this project.
