Germany’s Chancellor Merz says he will block the EU’s 2028-2034 budget unless all 27 states fund Ukraine.

Germany is threatening to block the EU’s next long-term budget unless every member state helps pay for Ukraine. In a letter to European Council President António Costa, Chancellor Friedrich Merz made his support for the 2028-2034 budget conditional on all 27 countries committing to cover Ukraine’s financing, which faces a €70 billion gap next year, the Financial Times reported.

This way, Germany, the EU’s biggest net contributor, leverages pressure over a handful of governments that have refused to pay for Ukraine’s defense, despite previous warnings from multiple intelligence agencies and NATO that Russia might have planned to expand its aggression on European countries.

The report came days before EU leaders meet in Dublin on 12-13 November, where closing Kyiv’s shortfall is already on the agenda, and as elections across Europe threaten to make unanimous support harder to hold.

The 70-billion-euro gap

Last December, EU leaders agreed a €90 billion loan for Ukraine, but Kyiv says it needs €70 billion more next year to keep fighting, a figure its allies accept.

The bloc has pledged to cover about two-thirds, roughly €45 billion, and the European Commission is weighing options including fresh joint borrowing, hoping for a deal by year’s end.

Closing the gap is “an essential prerequisite for resolving this issue and for discussing any further matters, particularly those with financial implications,” Merz wrote in the letter, tying it directly to the budget.

The holdouts

Four countries, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, have signaled they will not contribute to further aid for Kyiv. Three of them already won an opt-out last year from the interest payments on the €90 billion loan. All four are net beneficiaries of the EU budget, while Germany is its largest net contributor, the leverage Merz is now pressing.

Berlin also wants future funding for Ukraine to require only a qualified majority rather than unanimity, to head off vetoes.

A narrowing window

Merz insists the EU “must then find a solution supported by all Member States that ensures a sound and multiannual financing perspective for Ukraine from 2028 onwards.” The politics are tightening: Marine Le Pen, leading the polls before France’s April presidential election, has said that if she wins, she would end support for Kyiv beyond some operational help and training. Votes in Italy and Poland could further erode consensus.