'No easy options': Von der Leyen urges EU countries to plug €135bn gap for Ukraine

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'No easy options': Von der Leyen urges EU countries to plug €135bn gap for Ukraine  Von der Leyen sends a letter to member states calling for a fast agreement on how to fund Ukraine's enormous €135 billion budget hole for next year and 2027. EU leaders will meet for a make-or-break summit in December.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/11/17/no-easy-options-von-der-leyen-urges-eu-countries-to-plug-135bn-gap-for-ukraine  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00Ursula von der Leyen has urged EU countries to come up with a plan by December to bridge Ukraine's financing gap.

00:08Based on IMF projections that the war could end by the end of 2026,

00:13Ukrainian budgetary and military needs for the next two years amount to 135 billion euros.

00:19In a letter on Monday, the president of the European Commission outlined three different options

00:25for providing additional financial support to Ukraine.

00:2890 billion euros in EU countries' bilateral contributions,

00:33the assistance would be disbursed as a non-repayable grant

00:36and be accounted against a member state's national budget,

00:39joint debt, the interest would have to be covered by either national guarantees or the bloc's common budget,

00:46and 140 billion euros in a reparations loan based on frozen Russian assets.

00:51Kiev would be asked to repay the loan only after Moscow agrees to compensate for the damages.

00:56Fearing potential legal ramifications, Belgium has repeatedly opposed issuing reparations loans to Kiev,

01:03based on Russian assets held at Euroclear, a financial services company headquartered in Brussels.

01:10Von der Leyen's meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever last Friday to advance the talks

01:15has so far resulted in limited progress.

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