In an interview with the news portal Denik , the new Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš reiterated that the republic will not provide Ukraine with funds from the state budget, APA reports.
"We can no longer give Ukraine money from the state budget because we don't even have enough for school cooks," the prime minister noted. The Czech Republic supports Ukraine but has refused to provide guarantees for another large EU loan.
"The guarantee is effectively a debt, because it's clear Ukraine will never be able to repay this money. Ukraine received €187 billion. Now it will receive €100 billion from the new multiannual financial plan, and another €90 billion as a loan. That's a total of €377 billion. The Czech Republic annually contributes between 60 and 62 billion crowns (approximately €2.4 billion - €2.5 billion) to the EU budget. So we're helping with this money," Babiš said.
The Prime Minister recalled that a meeting of the State Security Council will be held on January 7. The plan will discuss the future of the initiative to supply the Ukrainian Armed Forces with ammunition purchased from third countries at Western expense. The Czech Republic proposed this initiative in early 2023. According to Babiš, the Czech authorities intend to analyze its implementation for transparency and potential corruption.
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