“First of all, I would like to know on what terms this loan will ultimately be granted, because that is not known. I have no doubt that we should help Ukraine because it is in our interest, our Polish interest – that assistance of some kind should be provided – but the question is on what terms,” said PiS MEP Piotr Müller, commenting on the loan the EU is to grant to Ukraine.
During the latest round of talks, European leaders decided to provide Ukraine with support in the form of a €90 billion loan over the next two years. It will be financed through common debt guaranteed by the EU budget. However, there was no agreement on using frozen Russian assets – although that had originally been envisaged.
Instead of using the aggressor’s funds, another option was adopted. Namely, the leaders decided to incur common debt from which three countries – Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary – will be “excluded.”
What will the loan look like?
The loan raised by the European Commission on capital markets and secured by the EU budget will be transferred to Ukraine, which is to repay it once it receives reparations from Russia. The summit conclusions state that until then, the assets of the Russian central bank will remain immobilized, and the Union reserves the right to use them for the purpose of repaying the loan.
Moreover, Ukraine will not have to pay interest on the loan. EU member states will do so on its behalf. As senior European Commission officials told journalists on Friday, this will mean an annual cost to the Community of around €3 billion, which – given EU GDP of €18 trillion – will translate into an increase in the deficit of 0.02 percent. The level of interest borne by individual countries will be determined proportionally to their gross national income (GNI).
The “exclusion” of Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary will consist of their not paying interest. Their share, amounting to a combined 3.75 percent of EU GNI, will be redistributed proportionally among the remaining 24 states.
Tusk’s “success” versus reality
Although Donald Tusk is trying to portray a solution that hits Poles’ wallets – and thus Polish taxpayers’ pockets – quite hard as a success, even “his” media did not refrain from asking difficult yet appropriate questions.
What is more, Sebastian Kaleta, a PiS MP and former deputy minister of justice, pointed out on social media that this form of support for Ukraine requires ratification on the Polish side.
He indicated that the issuance of additional EU debt requires, for validity, the adoption by Poland of a ratifying act. If Prime Minister Donald Tusk does not submit a draft of such an act to parliament and treats the decision in its current form as binding, he may be violating the law. Kaleta pointed out that this would concern the offense of diplomatic treason under Article 129 of the Penal Code, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Yesterday, Law and Justice MEP Waldemar Buda took a closer look at the numbers in the context of Poland – namely, how much it will cost us.
Müller: Tusk doesn’t know what he signed
Today, on Polsat News, PiS MEP Piotr Müller appeared and stated bluntly that “Prime Minister Donald Tusk doesn’t know what he signed. Because at the press conference, he was simply (by a Polsat News journalist – ed.) crushed, showing his lack of knowledge. He claimed that the money would come from frozen Russian assets, and that is not the case.”
The politician was also asked about a post by the government spokesperson, Adam Szłapka.
As Müller admitted, “Minister Szłapka amused me greatly, because if we follow this line of reasoning, then Donald Tusk takes responsibility for all decisions taken by the EPP, all decisions from the period when Donald Tusk was the head of that party. Are we following this line of reasoning?”
“All climate policy, all issues related, for example, to a soft policy toward Russia, all these matters that EU regulations take over – everything concerning the migration pact, the Mercosur agreement. Does Donald Tusk take all of that on the chin? If we are following this line of reasoning,”
he explained.
As for the loan to Ukraine itself, the PiS politician said that he “would like to know on what terms this loan will ultimately be granted, because that is not known.”
“I have no doubt that we should help Ukraine because it is in our interest, our Polish interest – that assistance of some kind should be provided – but the question is on what terms,”
he added.