Prime Minister Babiš in Brussels: The European Council has agreed on a loan to Ukraine, the Czech Republic will not back it with guarantees
On 18 and 19 December 2025, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš attended the European Council meeting in Brussels. The leaders agreed on a financial loan to Ukraine of up to €90 billion for the years 2026 and 2027, with the EU to mobilise the resources on the capital markets. However, the Czech Republic will not back the loans with any guarantees, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said after the meeting. Important topics of the meeting included the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034, EU enlargement and competitiveness and geo-economics. The Prime Minister also met with the leaders of the countries that are advocating a stricter EU migration policy. On Wednesday, 17 December, the Prime Minister attended the EU summit with the Western Balkan countries. He also met with representatives of the Patriots for Europe faction.
Ahead of the European Council, the Prime Minister attended an informal meeting of 14 leaders of countries advocating a stricter EU migration policy. "We mainly focus on returning illegal migrants, for instance to Syria. An initiative on the concept of safe third countries is also already underway. I am glad that the meeting confirmed what we have been saying for a long time — the EU must dramatically accelerate the reform of its migration and asylum policy. We need to have full control over who can live in Europe. We will continue to be active in this group and will work to stop illegal migration to the EU," said the Prime Minister.
The main topic of the European Council meeting was the issue of financing Ukraine in 2026 and 2027. "The European Council has agreed on two alternatives, while some countries insist on the use of frozen Russian assets. We have agreed that the EU will provide Ukraine with a loan of up to €90 billion in these two years, based on the EU’s borrowing on the capital markets. However, the Czech Republic will not back the loan with guarantees, regardless of the alternative opted for. The Czech Republic is thus in a different position than Hungary and Slovakia, which, as a matter of fact, rejected the Council's conclusions as proposed. We agreed to them, but on the condition that we would provide no guarantees for the loan," added the Prime Minister. He also supported the ongoing peace negotiations under the leadership of President Trump, adding that it was in the EU's interest to achieve a lasting peace as soon as possible.
The leaders also discussed for the first time the future shape of the EU budget for 2028-2034. The European Commission has proposed a budget of almost €2 trillion. The budget for the current period is around €1.2 trillion, added to by a recovery fund of €750 billion. The budget should focus on strengthening Europe's competitiveness as its priority.
See conclusions of the European Council.
On Wednesday, 17 December, the Prime Minister attended the EU-Western Balkans Summit. The leaders agreed that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the EU and enlargement is a realistic option. The results of the debate on this topic also resonated at the European Council. "The Czech Republic supports the Western Balkan countries becoming members of the European Union. It is hard to understand why the access process takes so long. North Macedonia, for example, applied for membership more than 20 years ago. They waited 16 years before the accession negotiations even began. The region is important in terms of security and protection of the external border against illegal migration," said the Prime Minister.
For details see the conclusions of the EU-Western Balkans Summit.
