Two major proposals to help Ukraine are circulating ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of European leaders in Copenhagen. Both face steep hurdles, underscoring the bloc’s growing difficulty in securing more money for Kyiv and keeping its EU membership dreams alive while working around Hungary’s veto.
The first is a plan to use roughly €200 billion in frozen Russian assets to provide long-term financing for Ukraine. The Commission outlined the idea last week in a short, loosely sketched note to member states, emphasizing it would avoid outright confiscation – a move fraught with legal risk that could also spark economic blowback.
Friedrich Merz backed the proposal. But Belgium, where most of the assets are held, has savaged it, with Bart De Wever warning his country cannot be left carrying the risk. Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, also expressed frustration at the Commission for failing to explain how the plan would work, Thomas Møller-Nielsen reports.
The second, nicknamed the “Costa plan,” would change EU accession procedures so that Ukraine could advance without requiring unanimity at every stage, while still requiring consensus for the final decision – meaning Viktor Orbán would retain the power to block membership at the end.
The idea, though welcomed by the Commission (which has no say in it) and covered by Politico as a new diplomatic offensive, has been around for months with little momentum.
And it contains another glaring flaw: changing the rules themselves requires unanimity. Hungary, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria, each of which has wielded its veto, have already lined up against it. In other words, it’s dead on arrival.
Diplomats I spoke to on Monday are baffled by António Costa’s decision to expend political capital on the plan. Some suggest it reflects the absence of better alternatives, short of waiting for Hungary’s election next year and hoping Orbán is voted out. By then, the Czech Republic might be led by his ally Andrej Babiš.
See the original of this report by Eddy Wax for Euractiv’s Rapporteur here.