00:00I spoke with the commissioner for the economy, Valdez Zembrovskis himself from Latvia.
00:05We spoke about European security, but also funding for Ukraine,
00:09where he told me at this stage the EU and the IMF are still crunching the numbers
00:14to figure out what Ukraine will need.
00:16Look into that funding gap going into 2027.
00:18Let's take a look.
00:21We're having here eastern border with Russia,
00:24and we see that Russia is an aggressor state, waging full-scale war in Ukraine
00:30and openly talking about invading other countries.
00:33So we cannot be complacent.
00:35We need to do preparedness.
00:37We need to have stronger also EU and NATO presence in the region
00:42to have also a credible deterrent against any Russia's plan.
00:47In a sense, the stronger and the more credible deterrents will be,
00:50the less chance there will be of any Russian aggression.
00:53When you look at the situation now, are you more concerned that you were,
00:57let's say, before the summer, because there was a letter that you also did sign
01:01with a number of other commissioners from that country saying the picture has deteriorated.
01:05Is that how you feel when you come here?
01:08You say the perception of a threat is not just a perception.
01:11There's something that has changed.
01:14Well, we see no signs of Russia willing to engage in any meaningful peace process.
01:22What we see is actually the contrary.
01:25Russia is ramping up its military production.
01:28It's strengthening its military-industrial complex.
01:30There are talks on mobilization of Russia.
01:33And the question is, where all this weaponry and all those troops will march?
01:37So you say you don't believe at this point that the war can end at real negotiations this year?
01:43Well, I very much wish so.
01:47But currently, we do not see any credible signs of engagement from the Russian side.
01:51And that takes us to the support and the money question for the Ukrainians.
01:56It is clear now that it's the EU that is going to have to really do the heavy lifting here.
02:01And the bill is not smaller.
02:02It's getting bigger.
02:03You had conversations with your Ukrainian counterparts, the Prime Minister, too.
02:07What do you see?
02:08Indeed, we had these discussions with our Ukrainian counterparts, including myself with Prime Minister Koretsky earlier this week.
02:17So we are now, in a sense, in strong engagement with Ukrainian authorities, finance ministry, to, in a sense, to
02:26pin down exact financing needs,
02:28to understand what exactly is driving those financing needs, and to seek solutions.
02:33And you mentioned the payments and this loan.
02:36There was a loan that was essentially paid out of pocket by the European countries.
02:39They agreed this is going to be two years.
02:41We heard the president of Ukraine saying the payments will have to be accelerated.
02:45There's now an open question about upfront payments.
02:49Is that something that you think is justified?
02:51And do you worry what was budgeted for two years may not last more than a year?
02:57Well, first of all, we need to find out exactly these additional financing needs and then discuss with the Ukrainian
03:05authorities how we are financing them.
03:09There are still open questions.
03:11We have this engagement.
03:11We do it also in coordination with IMF.
03:15But then the question is that already in this Ukraine support loan regulation, we foresaw the possibility to do some
03:27adjustments of this funding if this is necessary.
03:29So such a possibility is foreseen.
03:32To that, I have to ask you some final question.
03:34The idea of the Russian frozen assets.
03:36We see there's now a push by a number of European countries to revive the idea.
03:41Would you be in favor?
03:43Well, from European Commission side, we are certainly ready to engage in this discussion.
03:48As you know, already last year we came forward with a concrete legislative proposal to use those assets.
03:54Unfortunately, member states were not able to agree on this, mainly because of resistance of Belgium.
04:00But we certainly are ready to re-engage those discussions, seek those additional reassurances which may be needed, and to
04:08help find a way forward.
04:09What is it going to take for the Commission to put it back on the table?
04:12A signal from Belgium, the French, the Italians, the ECB, saying they're willing to explore it now?
04:17What will it take?
04:19Well, I cannot now give you no kind of exact triggers, but as I said, we are ready to engage
04:26in this discussion and to put this question back on table.
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