The European Commission plans to issue new EU debt securities to cover Ukraine's short-term financing needs over the next three months. Politico reported this, citing information from three European diplomats.
An official announcement of the plan will be made on May 18. The plan to raise funds to support Ukraine would be akin to the SURE program used during the pandemic to raise money for the temporarily unemployed.
According to the Ukrainian government and the IMF, Ukraine needs €5 billion in monthly support - this money should go towards social spending as well as military spending.
That is, Ukraine needs 15 billion euros for the next three months. One third of this amount is promised by the United States.
On 6 May, the European Commission informed the EU ambassadors about the plan to bridge this gap, which is an issue of EC debt securities based on guarantees provided by EU countries. Notably, the EC said it needs to obtain guarantees for 25 billion euros of guarantees, which would raise up to 100 billion euros for Ukraine, if necessary.
Politico's sources report that several countries, including Germany, Austria and Greece, have asked the EC to provide alternative financing options, while the French president wants to bring the issue to the heads of state and government in late May.
