Fico promises to block reparations loan to Ukraine: again speaks of "peace policy"

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that at the upcoming European Council meeting he would not support any decision to meet Ukraine's financial needs to cover military spending in the coming years. He wrote about this in a letter to the President of the European Council Antonio Costa, the text of which is available to LIGA.net .

In the letter, Fico decided to express his dissatisfaction with the European Commission's recent proposals to meet Ukraine's financial needs for 2026-2027, including the use of frozen Russian assets.

"I have long and unequivocally expressed my position on the military conflict in Ukraine. There is no military solution to this conflict, the European Union's strategy for this conflict is wrong and ineffective, and the continuation of the war is nothing more than a senseless killing without strengthening Ukraine's position in potential peace talks," Fico said .

He said that it is the "peace policy" he advocates that allegedly prevents him from voting for the European Commission's proposals, "because the allocation of tens of billions of euros for military spending prolongs the war.".

"Not to mention that the use of frozen Russian assets could directly jeopardize U.S. peace efforts, which are directly counting on the use of these resources to rebuild Ukraine," Fico said .

He recalled Costa's words that the European Council meeting could last a long time.

"By formulating clear positions, I want to exclude any misunderstanding or false expectation that the length of the Council meeting in Brussels could change my position. I cannot and will not under any pressure support any decision to support Ukraine's military expenditures in which the Slovak Republic would participate," he added .

• on September 10, the European Commission put forward the idea of a €140 billion "reparations loan" based on the cash balances of Russia's frozen assets.
• Through the "reparations loan" Ukraine could receive €45 billion annually for the next three years – from 2026 to 2028.

• In the 28-point "peace plan" initially promoted by the United States, , it was proposed that $100 billion of Russia's frozen assets be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine. America was to receive 50% of the profits from this, and Europe would have to add $100 billion to increase the amount of investment for Ukraine's recovery.
• On December 11, Bloomberg reported that the EU wants to approve a new mechanism for blocking Russian assets by the end of the week to avoid a Hungarian veto. Later, it became known that EU ambassadors agreed to change the rules to simplify the storage of frozen Russian assets within the bloc.