At their summit in Brussels, leaders of the European Union have agreed to support Ukraine with another package of aid worth €50 billion by general consent. Hungary's resistance has been overcome. The United States can calm its nerves as it has managed to shift the war-funding burden on to Europe. And still, there is more to America’s true plan.
US pressure on EU bureaucracy and its own leverage on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have turned out a lot more rigorous than Hungary’s resistance or that of its leader. As Western media note all together, EU leaders demanded that the latter lift his veto on further assistance to Ukraine before the Brussels summit. "The agreement overcomes weeks of resistance from Hungary and comes amid uncertainty over the future of US aid. Kyiv relies heavily on Western support as the war, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, nears its third year," Britain’s Reuters agency writes, in particular.
"We have a deal. Unity," President of the European Council Charles Michel said after the meeting, and his pleasure is not for nothing. The Kiev regime’s demise has been postponed for the moment. The EU's plan is to help cover Ukraine's needs for 2024 to 2027 with loans worth €33bn and grants worth €17bn. As indicated, this money should come from the EU budget to provide Kiev with more predictable funding in its fight against Russia. Being utterly reliant on Western aid, Kiev has announced that it expects the first tranche amounting to €4.5bn from the EU as early as in March.
Meanwhile, EU leaders have decided to approve of increased funds for supporting Kiev militarily via the so-called European Peace Foundation (EPF) before March this year. As for Hungary, it is not engaged in it but has no objections to its "operations", as it disclaims all responsibility for consequences of arming the Kiev regime.
The deal stipulates that the sum be provided in several tranches, not all at once. Another term is annual discussions of how Kiev spends the aid, and an opportunity to review things in two years, "if necessary." "The European Council will hold a debate each year on the implementation of the facility with a view to providing guidance on the EU approach towards the situation stemming from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine," the document adopted at the EU summit reads.
So, what does the outcome of this undercover Brussels fuss imply?
The Ukrainian regime has been saved from its imminent financial and economic collapse expected by March, when its budget is supposedly going to run dry (although no one has even checked whether it is still there at all). Anyway, this won’t be a game changer to the Kiev regime though prolongs its agony, with more Ukrainians destined to lose their lives on the battlefield.
But that's not even the primary issue. The EU summit’s outcome can be called a success of the American establishment’s long con aimed to stop its taxpayers’ money flow into the failed anti-Russia project. Today, the United States has shifted its financial burden on Europe.
The EU's decision came amid a Congress strife over whether and how the country should finance Ukraine in the future. The Biden administration suggests sort of a master budget to finance a whole range of projects worth a total of $111bn, embracing $61bn assistance to Ukraine, funds to strengthen the US own southern border, aid to Israel and Taiwan. Early February saw a new iteration of the bill appear, but its essence remained the same. The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives has insisted on dividing the combined package to finance the abovementioned things separately, particularly moves to prevent migration flows across the United States’ southern border.
Meanwhile, acrimony between the Republicans and Democrats over ways to help Ukraine and protect the border look like an artificial problem. Come to think of it: the American taxpayer does not care about ways money is taken out of his pocket — by means of a "common package" or separate laws along each of the directions planned. In this regard, many people both inside and outside the United States quite reasonably assume a virtual bipartisan collusion on schemes of waiving US support to Kiev as an unsuccessful business project. Members of both parties are primarily Americans who are used to counting money and assessing investment efficiency. Both do their part. The GOP says it is unhappy with a senseless waste of American money, which is true, and Democrats say: "We would keep helping Kiev, but the Congress is opposed to it."
As a result, the Washington establishment has shifted the entire financial burden on to Europe. Make no mistake that the Brussels bureaucracy and European leaders are only acting at Washington’s bidding. Against their own peoples, mind you. The reason behind this kind of European behavior is anyone's guess. But the point stands that the rationed €50bn are going to be thrown into the bottomless abyss called Ukraine. However, subject to the restriction that Russia does not defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine before that, and if Ukraine does endure as a state.
