The Dutch government has pledged to allocate an additional 700 million euros to Ukraine from funds remaining in the budgets of the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, UNN reports with reference to Dutchnews.
The publication notes that the amount promised to Ukraine is less than 2 million euros, according to the request submitted to parliament last week by the left-wing alliance GroenLinks-PvdA.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof argued that the decision should be left to the next government, but parties with a majority of seats in parliament said on Tuesday they were ready to support the proposal.
The government has committed to allocating 3.5 billion euros to Ukraine annually, but 2 million euros from the 2026 budget has already been allocated this year. GL-PvdA and other parties said that the current cabinet should fill the deficit.
The 500 million euro surplus in the defense budget is due to delays in project implementation and the depreciation of the US dollar against the euro, which led to a decrease in the cost of military equipment.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs budget also has 200 million euros left, most of which are funds allocated to the European Peace Facility – a mechanism for military assistance to Ukraine, blocked by Hungary.
Finance Minister Eelco Heijnen and Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans warned in a letter to parliament that next year the Dutch government would again "reach the limits of its capabilities."
However, they wrote: "The Cabinet remains committed to providing both military and non-military support to Ukraine and will carefully work out additional details to implement Parliament's proposal early next year."