Netherlands Allocates €700 Million to Strengthen Ukraine

The outgoing Dutch government is allocating an additional €700 million to support Ukraine for the next year.

The Dutch newspaper NOS reported that the allocation of additional funds for Ukraine became possible because other ministries will not be able to spend them by the end of this year.

The funds for Ukraine will be taken, among other things, from the Defence Equipment Budget Fund and the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where projects have been postponed.

The Netherlands annually allocates about €3.5 billion in aid to Ukraine. But this year, 2 billion has already been spent from the budget for next year. Therefore, the Green Left – Labor Party alliance has proposed to replenish the budget for 2026.

The decision to allocate €700 million to support Ukraine was made in response to this proposal.

Early next year, the government will consider where to get the rest of the money.

At the same time, in a letter to parliament, the ministers of defense, finance, and foreign affairs also warn that it will be difficult to find additional funds in the budget next year: “The financial reality is that next year we will face restrictions.”

At the end of November, during a debate, outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof said that he did not see the point of allocating additional billions for Ukraine right now.

He believes that other countries, especially southern European countries, should increase their support.

This caused discontent in the parliament. The Cabinet of Ministers was accused of governing with an accounting approach.

Schooff called the term ‘absolutely inappropriate,’ particularly because the Netherlands provides significant assistance to Ukraine. However, under pressure from the majority in parliament, the Prime Minister relented and promised to study the possibility of implementing the proposal, but he remained of the opinion that now is not the right time.

Recently, the Netherlands announced €35 million in funding for various material support to help Ukraine’s defense forces get through the winter. In addition, the Netherlands has contributed €250 million to the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine as part of a NATO initiative.