This year, France will be able to provide military aid to Ukraine in the amount of “more than EUR2 billion”, instead of EUR3 billion, as it was promised earlier, the reason is the budget deficit, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said.
“France will not fulfill its promise to allocate up to EUR3 billion for military aid to Ukraine this year and will only be able to allocate “more than EUR2 billion”, Minister of Defense Sebastien Lecornu said on Monday in front of the parliament”, – writes Politico.
The publication cites Lecornu as saying: “At the beginning of 2024, a political decision was made that this aid could reach EUR3 billion. In reality, we will exceed EUR2 billion, but we will not reach EUR3 billion.”
The decision to allocate up to EUR3 billion in aid to Ukraine in 2024 was enshrined in the bilateral security agreement between Kyiv and Paris, which Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Emmanuel Macron signed in February 2024. But, as Politico writes, France was forced to cut spending on aid to Ukraine, as the budget deficit for 2024 could amount to about 6% of the country’s GDP.
In total, Paris provided Kyiv with military aid in the amount of EUR1.7 billion in 2022 and EUR2.1 billion in 2023. “According to this indicator, it lags behind such countries as Germany, Great Britain and Sweden,” the publication notes. France is expected to supply Kiev with Mirage 2000 fighters in the first half of 2025.
Lecornu told parliament that the defense ministry would not request additional funds at the end of the year for costs related to the deployment of NATO forces in Estonia and Romania, or for aid to Ukraine.
According to Lecorny, about EUR 300 million of military aid to Ukraine will be provided at the expense of frozen Russian assets – these funds will be used to purchase 155-mm artillery shells, Caesar self-propelled guns and fuel. At the same time, from 400 to 600 million euros will be received due to the reduction of inflation, they will be directed to the modernization of SCALP and Aster missiles for Ukraine.
