Germany hits panic button? After declining Patriots for Kyiv, Merz demands fairer EU burden-sharing

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged European Union leaders to prioritise a new loan to cover Ukraine’s projected funding gap, while criticising the uneven distribution of financial support among member states. According to the Kyiv Independent, Merz warned that Ukraine faced a budget shortfall of 70 billion euros in 2027, of which 45 billion euros was expected to be covered by the EU. In a letter to European Council President António Costa, he called for urgent discussions at the November 13 summit and urged member states to treat Ukraine’s financing as a priority. Merz described support for Kyiv as an “indivisible responsibility” shared by all EU members and called for a long-term financing plan from 2028 onwards. Germany had previously pushed to use 200 billion euros in frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, but that proposal failed. EU diplomats said discussions had shifted towards securing a new loan.