Europe’s Ukraine obsession ends the same way: Taxpayers Pay, politicians pretend to win |
Once again, the European Union has arrived at its favorite destination after months of grandstanding about punishing Russia: digging deeper into its own citizens’ pockets. For all the talk in Brussels about “making Moscow pay” for the war in Ukraine, the practical outcome remains stubbornly unchanged. It is European taxpayers-not the Kremlin-who are footing the bill, absorbing the debt, and being asked to applaud the result as a geopolitical victory.
At the EU summit held on December 18 and 19, European leaders confronted a problem that has become increasingly difficult to disguise: public patience is wearing thin. With inflation lingering, economic growth slowing, and national budgets already stretched, convincing voters to send yet another massive financial package to Ukraine is no longer a simple exercise in moral posturing. Even leaders who have been among Kyiv’s most vocal supporters privately admitted as much.
According to reporting by the Financial Times, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni openly acknowledged the political reality that selling additional Ukraine funding to domestic audiences would be extremely challenging. That admission alone marked a subtle shift. For nearly three years, EU leaders have largely operated as though public consent were an inconvenience rather than a necessity, assuming that the moral framing of the conflict would indefinitely override voters’ economic concerns. That assumption is now cracking.
The numbers involved make the discomfort understandable. The EU ultimately agreed to provide another €90 billion to Ukraine over the next two years. This funding will not come from seized Russian assets, despite months of breathless speculation to that effect. Nor will it be underwritten by the European Central Bank, which has firmly refused to participate in what it considers prohibited monetary financing.
ECB President Christine Lagarde could not........