Estonia ready to lose EU funding when Ukraine becomes member: PM

Estonia is ready to eventually become a net contributor to the EU budget if Ukraine joins the bloc, the country’s prime minister Kaja Kallas told the Financial Times.

Ms Kallas said Estonia was prepared to lose access to cohesion funds, which the EU gives to help poorer members develop their economies, "in the long run".

"Eventually it will happen, but not immediately," she told the Financial Times.

The FT revealed last week that an internal EU study has estimated Ukraine would be entitled to almost EUR 190 billion over seven years under the current budget structure, converting "many" countries from being net recipients of EU funds to net contributors.

Estonia was one of six countries mentioned in the EU council paper as losing access to cohesion funds should Ukraine and other would-be members, such as Moldova and six countries in the Western Balkans, join without the budget rules first being amended.

"We have to discuss this, what are the rules, how this money is distributed and what we get in exchange," the Estonian PM said.

"Nobody… says that we don’t need to reform anything. The question is how much? And what exactly?"

Ms Kallas added that it was "not the idea" for member states to simply see the EU as a vehicle for money.

She also said the topic of how to reform the funding and payment rules to prepare for enlargement "has been touched very lightly and very gently" by leaders so far.

"I hope it’s not going to be that the big ones will discuss among themselves and actually not listen to the others. If we want to have something that everybody’s on board with, then you have to listen to everybody."