Just in time for the second visit to Berlin by Péter Magyar, Hungary’s new prime minister, Chancellor Merz stirred controversy with a letter sent to European Council President António Costa.
Merz wants the financial framework to be linked to aid for Ukraine
The essence of his proposal is that the ongoing negotiations on the EU’s multiannual financial framework for the 2028–2034 period should be linked to funding for Ukraine. Germany evidently believes that, as the largest net contributor to the EU budget, it has the necessary leverage to finally correct what has long been seen as an unfair distribution of the burden of supporting Kyiv, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
The newspaper has obtained a copy of Merz’s letter, sent to European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In it, Merz notes that, given the security threat facing Europe, support for Ukraine represents an “indivisible responsibility” that “we all bear together.” At the same time, he points out that “aid for Ukraine is distributed unevenly, with the overwhelming majority being provided by only a few member states.” In this regard, Merz has asked Costa to include the issue as a priority on the agenda of the informal meeting of the EU Council in Dublin this Friday.
How did Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria react?
Linking negotiations on the multiannual financial framework to funding for Ukraine is an extremely delicate issue from a political standpoint, FAZ notes. The newspaper points out that, for member states that are net beneficiaries of European funds, this would mean accepting cuts.
The reaction from some of them was swift: in Berlin, Péter Magyar said he was not sure that the letter sent the “right message.” Slovakia and the Czech Republic opposed the German chancellor’s demand that all EU countries participate in financing Ukraine. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico even described Merz’s position as “blackmail,” while his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš said he did not know why Merz was speaking that way.