EU Leaders Discuss Reparations Loan for Ukraine at Copenhagen Summit

At the informal summit in Copenhagen, EU leaders are discussing a possible reparations loan for Ukraine. The European Commission’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed that the discussion is ongoing to determine the format and nature of the support; details will be announced later.

There are several occasions when this can be discussed. For example, this issue may be raised at the European Council’s informal meeting this week. Later this month an official European Council meeting will take place, so there is likely to be an opportunity to shed more light on the specific details of such a proposal by discussing it with all member states

In addition, EU spokesperson Balázs Ujvári said that the EU is currently ready to discuss a reparations loan for Ukraine also with partners from the G7; decisions are taken by G7 partners, but naming concrete terms is difficult – pragmatism will remain in the process.

We are ready for such discussions with G7 partners, and at the end of this week there will be a video conference of G7 finance ministers, and, of course, we are open to any discussions in this area, but the decisions are taken by the G7 partners. I cannot name specific timelines (when this scheme will be approved), but we are closely watching this issue and moving on it as quickly as we can

As a reminder, on September 19 the President of the European Council António Costa sent an invitation letter to the members of the European Council for an informal meeting, which will take place on October 1 in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. During the meeting, the main focus will be on strengthening collective defense readiness and boosting support for Ukraine.

Preliminarily, the decision on the ‘reparations loan’ must be adopted unanimously by all EU member states, which so far casts a great deal of uncertainty on the prospects for implementing the mechanism

Funds are likely to come in tranches, and the final decision on the ‘reparations loan’ must be adopted unanimously by all EU member states; the amount of financing will be determined by the needs of the Ukrainian budget and IMF confirmation.