European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has signed a document granting Ukraine a €90 billion loan. The European Parliament adopted this decision on February 11.
Metsola reported this in X.
According to her, the money will be used to:
- strengthen the functioning of the main public services of Ukraine;
- to support the defense of Ukraine;
- to protect common European security and freedom;
- achieve true and lasting peace;
- to secure Ukraineʼs future in Europe.
Of the total amount, €60 billion will be allocated to strengthening defense and purchasing military equipment, and €30 billion will be allocated to macro-financial assistance and budget support through the Ukraine Facility program.
The loan will then be voted on by the European Council, where decisions are made unanimously by EU heads of state. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on February 20 that his country would block the loan to Ukraine until Kyiv resumes the transit of Russian oil to Hungary via the “Druzhba” oil pipeline.
EU loans to Ukraine
Since early October, EU leaders have been talking about the possibility of providing Ukraine with a €140 billion loan using frozen Russian assets. Initially, the partners were unable to agree on the loan, with Belgium opposing it, and France and Luxembourg concerned about the legal implications.
The European Commission officially presented the idea of a reparations loan on December 6, and its details were revealed by Politico. This loan is to consist of €165 billion: €25 billion of frozen Russian state assets held in private bank accounts across the European Union, and €140 billion held in the Belgian financial institution Euroclear. The money was planned to be distributed as follows:
- €115 billion — to finance Ukraineʼs defense industry;
- €50 billion will cover Ukraineʼs budget needs;
- €45 billion will be used to repay the loan that the G7 provided to Ukraine in 2024.
Belgium opposed the loan out of concern that Russia would sue it if the plan went ahead, as the frozen assets are held in Belgiumʼs Euroclear. The Belgian prime minister asked the other 26 EU countries to guarantee coverage of the legal and financial risks.
And on December 5, Bloomberg, citing sources among European diplomats, wrote that the United States had lobbied several EU countries not to use Russian assets for reparations loans for Ukraine. American officials convinced EU member states that these assets were needed to secure a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow, so they should not be used to continue the war.
On December 8, the G7 countries supported the use of frozen Russian assets for reparations to Ukraine and stated that they were ready to increase pressure on Russia if peace talks failed.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.