Italy and Spain, two of the largest economies of the European Union, declared their unpreparedness to support the plan for increasing military assistance to Ukraine to 40 billion euros in 2025. It became known during the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, which took place on March 17, reports Reuters.
The proposal to increase assistance was made by the head of EU Caya Callas diplomacy. However, Italy and Spain suggested waiting for the results of negotiations between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to understand whether new steps would take place to reach peace.
This position is also due to the fact that the final decision on the initiative, according to Rome and Madrid, is still premature. At the same time, France has expressed some reservations on the plan.
The plan uses significant support among the countries of Northern and Eastern Europe, while some Southern European countries are cautious. This approach reflects the geographical factor: the states located closer to Russia provided more assistance to Ukraine with respect to its GDP, while the countries of Southern Europe made smaller contributions.
According to the King Institute of the World Economy, Ukraine, Denmark, and Lithuania, which from January 2022 to December 2024, have allocated more than 2% of their GDP from January 2022 to December 2024. At the same time, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus have given help in Kiev less than 0.5% of GDP. Hungary has the latest positions among EU countries in terms of assistance.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have previously opposed Ukraine's military assistance, are expected to not block the initiative as contributions remain voluntary.
After the meeting, Kai Callas noted that the initiative to double the assistance to Ukraine has widespread support, and the discussion is currently only going around.
