Germany rejects pooling EU debt to rebuild Ukraine

KÃ NIGSWINTER, Germany: Germany’s finance minister on Friday ruled out any joint EU borrowing to help cover the massive cost of rebuilding war-scarred Ukraine, after the idea was floated by top European officials.

After chairing G7 talks in Germany that saw countries pledge nearly $20 billion (19 billion euros) in aid to Ukraine, Christian Lindner said there would be no repeat of the EU’s landmark post-pandemic recovery fund, known as “Next Generation”, that is being financed by common debt.

“If there is any consideration of doing something like ‘Next Generation EU’ again, then the answer would have to be no. This was a one-off opportunity,” Lindner told reporters in Koenigswinter.

Top European Union officials earlier this week urged member states to be ambitious in helping Ukraine rebuild after the war, possibly using the pandemic fund as a model.

“There is a time, sooner or later, when we will have to look at funding on a European scale as we did for Covid,” Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels on Wednesday.

In a document reviewing ways the EU could help Ukraine, the Commission said the rescue of Ukraine could be paid through added contributions to existing EU programmes and boosting the EU budget. But, it said, “given the scale of the loans that are likely to be needed, raising funds on behalf of the EU or with national guarantees from member states is among the options being considered.”