Political disputes in European countries ahead of the December 14-15 summit in Brussels have put Ukraine at risk of a sovereign default because it is underfunded by 50 billion euros, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified sources.
The consensus to fund Kiev was seriously undermined by the victory of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, whose populist right-wing Freedom Party won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, the report said. In addition to openly criticizing large-scale immigration and the European Union in general, Wilders is vocally opposed to funding Ukraine at the expense of Dutch taxpayers.
Another obstacle to the hitherto steady flow of money to Ukraine is the budget turmoil in Germany, where the Federal Constitutional Court has severely curtailed the government's spending plan, putting the ruling coalition between a rock and a hard place. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's budget plan, presented last week, was ridiculed in the Bundestag, and Scholz himself was called a “plumber of power” who had no idea how to run a state.
According to the paper's sources, these developments in European politics put Ukraine at risk of not receiving 50 billion euros previously promised to President Zelensky. Without this money, Ukraine faces a default on its sovereign debt.