For more than a month, Germany has been blocking the €9 billion aid package, which would be the main form of EU support to Ukraine. Based on the aid package, Ukraine will receive a 25-year interest-free loan from the funds that the European Commission would collect by issuing debt bonds.
The resulting stalemate may have been one of the reasons why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suddenly removed the Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, Corriere della Sera .
According to Ukraine, it needs $5 billion a month in support, which is more than half of the total aid package. Germany's finance minister, Christian Linder, has so far only approved the payment of 1 billion euros. He justified his decision by saying, "Germany is against the support being covered by the entire European debt."
The German finance minister compared this situation to when Brussels resorted to a joint European loan during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reason behind Linder's move may be that Germany is trying to back away from sanctions in order to regain Russian gas transport via the Nord Stream pipelines.
Source: hirado.hu
Image credit: Getty Images
