In the Committee on Budgets (BUDG) on Thursday 5 February, MEPs examined with the European Commission the amendment to the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), designed to make possible the €90 billion loan to Ukraine for 2026-2027.
Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin summed up the two objectives: “to provide a guarantee for the nearly €90 billion for Ukraine, and to ensure that the Union has a strategy for covering debt servicing costs”.
For 2027, the Commission estimates the financing costs at “around €1 billion”, based on a progressive disbursement schedule. In the event of less favourable financing conditions, “there would be an additional cost of €300 million”.
From 2028 onwards, debt servicing would reach “an average of €3 billion a year”, or even €4.1 billion in an unfavourable scenario.
To cover these costs, the Commission proposes first to use available appropriations, “including via specific instruments”, and, if this is not enough, “to have recourse to a new financial instrument such as a backstop”, i.e. a financial instrument designed to cover costs in the absence of sufficient appropriations.
The previous week (see EUROPE 13797/7), the European Commissioner for Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, had indicated that, if the margins of the MFF proved insufficient, “an additional dedicated instrument would be created”, to which 24 Member States would contribute.
Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Romanian) asked Commissioner Serafin about “the room for manoeuvre available in the budget” in order to continue funding European priorities.
Carla Tavares (S&D, Portuguese) asked how costs beyond the current MFF would be covered and whether there would be a new proposal.
The rapporteur for the 2027 budget, Nils Ušakovs (S&D, Latvian), pointed out that “we are in a crisis budget” with “practically no more budgetary additions”, referring to the risk of cutting certain programmes.
Commissioner Serafin pointed out that “the loan facility and debt servicing will have no impact on the 2026 budget”, with interest only being paid from the following year.
For 2027, he mentioned needs estimated at “between €5 billion and €7 billion”. No new legal proposal is planned at this stage, added Commissioner Serafin. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)