Merz and the EU budget: A disservice to Ukraine

Friedrich Merz fights like a lion for Ukraine. In any case, this is how the Chancellor likes to present his commitment to more financial aid from EU funds. But similar to a year ago, Merz is once again in the process of fighting back - and putting everything at risk.

Back then, in the fall of 2025, the Chancellor stirred up the Europeans by demanding that the financial holes in Kyiv be filled with money from frozen Russian assets. He got a bloody nose: Belgium, France and Italy said no. The EU had to take on debt to help Kyiv.

Now the game starts again from the beginning. This time it's not "just" about 90 billion euros, like last time, but about another 70 billion for 2027 alone, as well as unspecified follow-up financing to help Ukraine rebuild after the war. It's hundreds of billions.

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Merz goes all out for this. The Chancellor not only demands that all 27 EU states participate in aid to Ukraine. He also links this new financial commitment to the agreement on the future EU budget for the years 2028 to 2034.

In doing so, he overexcites his hand. The Community budget and aid to Ukraine have nothing to do with each other. Ukraine is not even a member of the EU. The idea of ​​making contribution-financed funds for the Community dependent on aid for a third country is absurd.

Anyone who does this doesn't make an agreement any easier - they endanger it. And not just because of the resistance from Slovakia, Hungary and other EU countries - they don't want to transfer a cent more to Kyiv. Friends of Ukraine such as Finland have also warned against the link.

The reason: Negotiations over the EU budget are already hopelessly deadlocked. Part of the reason for this is the tough stance taken by the Chancellor, who is calling for radical cuts - by several hundred billion euros. The EU should get less money, Ukraine more, demands Merz. Anyone who argues like this is doing the EU a disservice. And Ukraine in the end too.