Merz clashes with Fico over German bid to link EU budget and Ukraine loan

BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday reiterated his push to link the EU’s next budget to unanimous backing for a multibillion-euro Ukraine loan, despite Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico labeling the demand “classic blackmail.” Supporting Ukraine “is a shared European responsibility, not the responsibility of individual member states,” Merz told reporters at a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar. “That is why the question of how we will finance Ukraine in the coming years, if necessary, naturally belongs within the context of these budget negotiations.” Merz’s demand, which he also laid out in a letter to European Council President António Costa on Friday, has triggered a backlash.

“What the German chancellor is doing is classic blackmail, and I reject it,” Fico said Tuesday during a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in Bratislava, according to Slovak media . The EU and partners are currently discussing a new €70 billion loan to support Ukraine in the next year against sustained Russian attacks.