Bulgaria will not contribute to the extra €70bn Ukraine has asked the EU for to cover 2027, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on October 20, state news agency BTA reported.
"Bulgaria cannot contribute to this EUR 70 billion," Radev told reporters in Tvarditsa in southeastern Bulgaria, where he was attending the groundbreaking of a battery energy storage park. He noted that the EU had already agreed to give Ukraine a €90bn loan guaranteed by the bloc and asked: "How does that look to you against the backdrop of everything happening in Europe?"
Radev is the second EU leader in a week to break ranks on Ukraine money. EU leaders agreed at their October 15-16 summit that the €70bn gap had to be covered and asked the European Commission for a plan, but left open who would pay, and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said afterwards that Czechia would not guarantee borrowed EU money for Ukraine. The bloc's seven-year budget needs unanimity.
Radev said the war was draining Europe's economies and fuelling social tension and political instability, and that European citizens' prosperity was "draining into this war". Asked about unrest in France and Italy, he blamed uncontrolled migration, failed integration, the Green Deal, de-industrialisation and job losses for public discontent.
He called for the war to end as soon as possible through diplomacy, arguing that the front line had been frozen for more than a year and that no military solution was in sight.
Radev, Bulgaria's president from 2017 until he became prime minister in April, has made dialogue with Moscow a theme of his government. The Kremlin welcomed his call at the start of October for Europe to listen to both sides and keep channels to Russia open, and he has criticised continued European arms supplies to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy told the summit that the war would cost Ukraine €155bn in 2027 and asked for at least €70bn from Europe. The €90bn EU loan covers 2026 and 2027, with €45bn planned for 2027. The Commission is expected to set out further options, probably in November, and leaders hold an extraordinary summit on the EU budget on November 26.