Ukraine's EU Entry: The Price Tag for Taxpayers

"Ukraine is a bottomless pit financially."

Kijev, 2023. november 21. Charles Michel, az Európai Tanács elnöke (b) és Volodimir Zelenszkij ukrán elnök sajtótájékoztatót tart Kijevben 2023. november 21-én. Charles Michel és Maia Sandu moldovai államfõ az európai integrációt és hatalomváltást követelõ, Majdan-tüntetések tizedik évfordulója alkalmából ezen a napon érkezett Ukrajnába. MTI/AP/Efrem Lukackij Fotó: Efrem Lukackij

"Ukraine is a bottomless pit financially," said Harald Vilimsky, MEP of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), reacting  to the announcement of a new financial package for Ukraine by European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova and European Investment Bank President Werner Hoyer.

I am very grateful to President @ZelenskyyUa for his precious time and for the opportunity to discuss the EU bank's @EIB support for🇺🇦. From reconstruction to resilience, to supporting Ukraine on its EU path: our commitment to #StandWithUkraine️ remains unwavering🇺🇦🇪🇺@EIBGlobal pic.twitter.com/xSOlpu6JzG

— Werner Hoyer (@wernerhoyer) November 27, 2023

In addition, Spain, holding the rotating EU presidency, is working to implement a drastic increase in the EU budget, with half of the nearly €100 billion earmarked for Ukraine.

From the outbreak of the war to the end of July, some €132 billion flowed from the EU to Ukraine, including €40 billion in military aid. Since then, billions more have been added. These are huge sums of money that are missing elsewhere,

Vilimsky said, citing figures put out by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. He recalled that Ukraine, which the European Court of Auditors massively reprimanded shortly prior to the outbreak of the war for rampant corruption, would receive EU candidacy status at the EU summit in December.

The only head of government hampering the process is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Ukraine is a country at war. Accession would activate a series of laws contained in the EU treaties. In the way of the EU budget, agricultural and regional subsidies would be decimated. Using the existing multiannual financial framework as an example, the European Commission calculated that Ukraine would receive €186 billion, requiring net contributors such as Austria to pay a significantly higher contribution. Add to this the pre-accession support provided to candidate countries and the reconstruction costs, which are as yet, difficult to estimate, in the hundreds of billions of euros,

the Austrian politician listed the foreseeable financial costs that would further burden European taxpayers in an historic era of inflation. The FPO, therefore, called on Brusselites to reconsider the EU's Ukraine policy. Ukraine's admittance to the EU will dispel any chance of reaching peace, in the party's view.

Cover photo: European Council President Charles Michel (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a press conference in Kyiv on November 21, 2023 (Photo: MTI/AP/Efrem Lukatsky)