Officials from Ukraine are looking to get the EU taxpayers to bankroll them to the tune of $2 billion dollars every month.
Taxpayers within the European Union should hand over billions of dollars in funding to Ukraine every single month, officials from the war-torn nation have said.
Officials from across the west are meeting in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss the reconstruction of the country in the wake of the Russian invasion, with the European Commission President and German Chancellor writing in one major German newspaper that they want to see a “Marshall Plan” like scheme set up for the country.
However, such an effort appears like it could end up being particularly costly for those within the European Union, with officials from the country saying that they want the EU alone to hand over around two billion dollars in funding every month in financial aid to better help them balance the books.
Of this two billion, Die Welt reports the Zelensky administration as wanting Germany alone to send $500 million every month to tide Ukraine over, perhaps a tall order considering the frequently strained relations between the two countries.
“We need four to five billion dollars for our budget every month,” Die Welt reports Alexander Rodnyansky, a financial advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as saying.
“We believe that Germany could take on around $500 million a month, especially with a view to 2023,” he continued. “From the EU as a whole we are hoping for around $2 billion a month.”
Such a call to hand over billions to anyone, even if it is a good cause, may be difficult to swallow for the voters of Europe with the continent facing a crippling energy and cost of living crisis, as well as an anticipated recession that has already all but arrived.
As a result, it seems that many within the EU in particular are hesitant to see any such funds given to the country, with even the German Chancellor himself, Olaf Scholz, seemingly not all that keen on sending taxpayers’ funds to the war-torn nation, despite he himself backing the so-called “Marshall Plan” envisioned for the country by Brussels bigwigs.
By extension, while the meeting in Berlin today is supposed to see nations from across the world come together to discuss how best to rebuild Ukraine, POLITICO reports that it will be unlikely that any real economic commitments will be made, and that the Zelensky administration should ultimately not get its hopes up for governments actually committing funds.
“Europe is not there. No one wants to talk about it,” one think-tank bigwig told the news organisation.
Beyond the purely economic problems facing the continent, many European nations are also facing the very real possibility of energy shortages this winter, something that would likely result in social and political unrest gripping many states as their citizens are left unable to properly heat or power their homes.
Authorities in Germany in particular are now putting great effort into preparing for such an eventuality, with it feared that there could be rolling blackouts in Berlin should gas run out in the country before Spring rolls around.
Meanwhile, leftist government bigwigs have expressed horror at the sudden surge of the populist right in the country, with one branding those looking to hold the country’s political class to account over their rough handling of the crisis as “enemies of the state“.