Fico Ready to Increase Contribution to EU Budget under Certain Conditions to Help Ukraine
Slovakia is ready to increase its contribution to the EU budget over the next four years by 400 million euros so that Ukraine receives an aid package of 50 billion euros – on certain conditions.
As the Slovak government reported on Friday, Slovak Prime Minister Fico said that at the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, there was a serious discussion about changing the European budget.
As he said, Bratislava is ready to increase its contribution to the EU budget under several conditions.
"We will not allow any cuts in EU funds intended to support farmers and eliminate inequality. The increased EU budget will be used to increase the competitiveness of the EU and to fight against illegal migration," he listed.
He also called for the financial support of Ukraine to be conditional on guarantees that European money, including Slovak money, will not be appropriated.
Part of these funds, in Fico's opinion, should be directed to the restoration of Slovak infrastructure in the border areas and to the support of Slovak companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Earlier, Politico reported that at a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday, Fico issued a warning regarding the allocation of further financial aid to Kyiv due to corruption in Ukraine.
On Thursday, EU leaders discussed for the first time the European Commission's request to member states to provide additional 66 billion euros to the long-term budget for 2021-2027. Of these, they want to allocate 50 billion euros to Ukraine.
Before leaving for the EU summit, Fico said that he did not want to support sanctions against Russia without assessing their impact on individual EU countries and that he was not going to support military aid to Ukraine.