EU budget, von der Leyen asks for more money: 50 billion for Ukraine and 15 for migrants

Ursula von der Leyen requests an additional 66 billion for the EU budget. The President of the European Union Commission has put forward a proposal to review the EU’s multi-year budget. “We are in a completely different context compared to 2020 and these crises have had an impact on our budget, we have exhausted its flexibility. We had to give new priorities to our finances.” Therefore, the European Commission proposes to include in the framework of microfinance 2021-27 a “financial reserve of 50 billion euros for Ukraine for the next four years,” which includes both loans and transfers. President Ursula von der Leyen made this clear at a press conference in Brussels at the end of the College of Commissioners. The reserve “will first of all give our partners in Ukraine perspective, give predictability, and should also motivate other donors to increase” their support. Furthermore, it should allow “our financial support to be calibrated to the evolving situation on the ground, because we all know that war requires maximum flexibility.”

On the immigration front, according to the president, “quick answers are needed. We propose to provide our member states with financial support to strengthen external border management. We need to work harder in our region to support economic development. We need more money for Syrian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, migration routes to the south and the Balkans, for our partners around the world and to maintain our ability to respond to humanitarian crises and natural disasters. For all this we ask 15 billion euros. “Our third priority is related to the resilience and competitiveness of our economy – added von der Leyen – in this area we are asking for a limited strengthening of 10 billion euros for some funds. We also want to take advantage of the capacity of cohesion funds to provide other resources for projects in this area.