German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on the European Union to bring forward discussions on plugging a 70-billion-euro budget shortfall for Ukraine in 2027, warning against an uneven distribution of financial burdens among member states.
In a letter to European Council President Antonio Costa seen by the Kyiv Independent on Nov. 9, Merz specified that 45 billion euros of that projected gap will fall directly to the EU. The German leader asked Costa to place the financing issue as a matter of priority at upcoming high-level meetings.
“I ask you to place this issue as a matter of priority… at the forthcoming informal meeting of the European Council,” Merz wrote to Costa.
EU leaders are scheduled to gather informally in Dublin on Nov. 13 and in Brussels on Nov. 26-27. The financing debate threatens to crowd out other scheduled agenda items across both summits.
The Nov. 13 gathering was originally slated to focus on artificial intelligence. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni successfully lobbied to dedicate time for discussing the bloc’s approach to upcoming peace talks, and the Ukraine budget shortfall will now join those talks.
The subsequent Brussels meeting on Nov. 26-27 was prepared to debate the EU’s multiannual 2028-2034 budget. The Financial Times reported that Merz threatened to block agreement on that long-term spending framework until the 2027 financing for Kyiv is resolved.
However, Merz’s letter did not issue an explicit ultimatum regarding the budget. The text only stresses that member states must find a supported solution ensuring sound multiannual financing for Ukraine from 2028 onward, including accrued interest liabilities.
Merz emphasized that supporting Kyiv remains an indivisible responsibility shared across the bloc. But he added that bilateral assistance is distributed unevenly and carried mostly by only a few member states.
“bilateral assistance to Ukraine is distributed unevenly and carried mostly by only a few Member States,” Merz added.
Germany stands as the largest financial contributor to Ukraine within the EU, though it also remains the bloc’s largest member state by population and economic output. On a per capita basis, several smaller countries give more financial support to Kyiv.
Berlin previously pushed to provide Ukraine with a multiannual financing perspective that would have averted recurring debates in the European Council. That effort involved German advocacy in 2025 to pressure Belgium into allowing the EU to expropriate 200 billion euros of immobilized Russian assets, a plan that ultimately failed.
Discussions regarding immobilized Russian assets are currently off the table, with EU diplomats confirming to the Kyiv Independent that focus has shifted entirely to negotiating a new loan. Yet, as politicians frame support as a direct cost to European taxpayers, countries such as Sweden have argued that the asset debate could eventually return.
