The defense ministers of the G7 countries met in Naples on Saturday and Friday, and in addition to Russian aggression in Ukraine, they also dealt with tensions in the Middle East. The finance ministers of this group will meet on October 25 in Washington on the sidelines of the meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, where, according to two of the mentioned FT sources, they are to agree on a statement regarding the definitive structure of the promised G7 loans to Ukraine.
According to the FT, negotiations on money for Ukraine are speeding up because government officials want to provide funds to Kyiv by the end of the year. In the event of Donald Trump’s victory in the November presidential elections, American aid to Ukraine could be interrupted.
The G7 states already agreed on the provision of loans to Ukraine in June, but since then they have been continuing negotiations on the exact structure. Among other things, it was expected that Washington’s contribution would be lower compared to the original idea, the FT noted.
However, according to the newspaper, American representatives told the G7 partners on Friday that they intend to provide the originally promised amount, i.e. approximately 20 billion dollars. So far, the USA has set guarantees from the EU as a condition, which were not possible due to the Hungarian veto.
As part of this scheme, the European Commission (EC) promised Ukraine a loan of up to 35 billion euros (roughly 882 billion CZK). At the same time, she pointed out that the planned loan must be approved by the European Parliament and a qualified majority of member states. This means that at least 15 countries with at least 65 percent of the EU’s population must agree.
If the US actually provided the full amount, the EU’s contribution could be slightly lower. The rest of the USD 50 billion will be provided by the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the G7 group froze Russian assets worth around 300 billion dollars.