Germany ups Ukraine support with €8B pledge for arms, vows to unblock EU's 50B aid package

In 2024, the German government will provide military support to Ukraine worth 8 billion euros, and will also continue an "active campaign" for the approval of the 50 billion euro aid package at the level of the European Union at the beginning of the year, the official representative of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christian Wagner stated at a briefing, Bloomberg reports.

The EU "will continue to provide support to Ukraine" in 2024 "in any event." 8 billion euros have already been planned for military support from Germany, and Berlin will continue its "active campaign" for the approval of an aid package worth 50 billion euros at the level of the European Union, the diplomat assured.

Wagner noted that the EU-26 (that is, 26 of the 27 countries of the European Union, without Hungary. – ed. ) can become an effective solution, but it is still too early to publicly make assumptions about how such support will be organized, since the issue requires continued consultations in Brussels.

One way or another, Germany expects that the members of the European Union will in any case approve the next aid package for Ukraine, even if Hungary continues to block it.

The backup option that has already been announced is that the member states will direct funds to Ukraine without using the EU budget process for this, Bloomberg notes.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the EU plan consists in placing bonds by the European Commission under the guarantees of member states. The exact terms are still being discussed, and the final amount will be determined according to Ukraine's needs.

On December 15, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the decision to create the Ukraine Facility in the amount of 50 billion euros for 2024-2027 and the opening of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

French President Macron also said that the Prime Minister of Hungary can be persuaded to support financing Ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that the leaders of the EU countries will hold a summit in early 2024, at which they will discuss the provision of 50 billion euros to Ukraine.