Slovakia's PM says to EU that his country concerned about corruption in Ukraine – Politico

At the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico expressed his concerns about corruption in Ukraine amid the EU’s plans to allocate further financial aid to Kyiv. 

Source: European Pravda, citing Politico

Details: Charles Michel, EU Council President, said that a consensus was reached regarding the allocation of additional EUR 50 billion to Ukraine during the discussion of the revision of the EU budget.

However, the newly appointed Prime Minister of Slovakia mentioned Ukrainian corruption as an obstacle.

"However, according to an EU official briefed on the negotiations, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico warned in his intervention about corruption in Ukraine, laying out that spending extra money on Ukraine was difficult for him to sell back home," the media said.

The Slovak media Dennik N reports that Fico described Ukraine as "one of the most corrupt countries in the world."

On 26 October, EU leaders discussed for the first time the European Commission's request to member states to provide an additional EUR 66 billion to the long-term budget for 2021-2027. EUR 50 billion from the budget is planned for Ukraine.

Background: 

• Before leaving for the summit, Fico noted that he did not want to support sanctions against Russia without assessing their impact on individual EU countries, and that he was not going to support arms aid to Ukraine.
• The new Prime Minister of Slovakia stated in a conversation with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, that Bratislava would not support Ukraine with military aid anymore.

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