EU Council approves 50-billion euro aid to Ukraine

As the Russia-Ukraine reaches its second year mark this February 24, the European Union (EU) had overcome Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s resistance and approved aid of 50 billion euros ($54 billion) to Ukraine on Thursday. Orban voted for the measure because EU decisions are based on consensus.

Of the 50 billion euros, 33 billion euros will be in the form of repayable loan and 17 billion euros will be in the form of “non-repayable support”. The 17 billion euros will be realised from frozen Russian assets in the EU. The amount will be made available to Ukraine over a three-year period of 2024-27.

The financial package comes at a time when Ukraine is fighting Russia with its back to the wall, and the American aid has dried up because the US Congress has not yet resolved the means of funding Ukraine. There was a suspicion that Hungary’s Orban was obstructing the aid to Ukraine because he was seen as being a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The other reason was that the EU had had held back the funds from EU to Hungary for breaking the EU rules. Though the freeze on EU funds to Hungary remains, Orban has voted for the Ukraine financial aid. EU Council president Charles Michel wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “EU is taking up leadership & responsibility; we know what is at stake.”

Though individual European countries have been looking at the war in Europe, the first since the Second World War, with wariness, and French President Emmanuel Macron had been looking for ways of negotiating with Russian President Putin, EU’s Council, Commission and Parliament have been steadfast in their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and support for Ukraine. It is the case however that Ukraine is not yet a member of EU nor of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and membership of EU is on the anvil though membership of NATO is far from being offered.

Ukraine’s membership of NATO would not happen unless the war ends. If Ukraine were to become a member of NATO even as the war rages on, then the whole of NATO would be at war with Russia, which is something none of the NATO members would want, especially the United States. Even membership of EU is a distant goal for Ukraine, and it can come about only after there is an end to the war. While the membership of EU is certain, Ukraine’s membership of NATO is not guaranteed.

Surprisingly, the Western economic sanctions against Russia do not seem to have weakened or broken the Russian economy. According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment, the Russian economy is continuing to grow after the initial setback. Russia has found other countries, especially big economies like China and Asia, buying Russian oil.

The Russians are facing hardships due to the war, but the economy seems to be on solid ground. Even if the Russian economy is doing well at the moment, it cannot continue to wage an endless war with Ukraine. At the beginning of the war in 2022, it seemed that Russian military strength would overwhelm Ukraine. It has not happened. The enormous American military and economic aid, along with that of EU, had helped Ukraine to withstand the Russian onslaught. But Ukraine too would not be at war without an end in sight. There is need for peace, but there does not seem to be a way out. President Putin has been asserting that Russia would end the war until its stated war goals are achieved. That seems to be an impossibility because  Russia wants a regime change in Kyiv.