UK to enter talks with EU on joining £78bn loan for Ukraine
The EU confirmed the loan in April after Viktor Orbán's ousting in Hungary.
The UK plans to begin talks with the European Union on joining a £78 billion loan for Ukraine, part of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's ongoing reset with Brussels.
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Sir Keir will tell leaders at an EU gathering in Armenia’s capital Yerevan on Monday that Britain intends to bid to participate in the loan scheme, worth 90 billion euros.
The scheme was approved by the EU in April after Viktor Orban’s defeat in Hungarian elections ended a long-running veto, and aims to help Ukraine with its budgetary and defence spending.
Sir Keir will also tell EU leaders, assembled for a meeting of the European Political Community, that he wants to work more closely with them to make sure Ukraine gets the military equipment necessary to fight Russia’s invasion.
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Sir Keir called for the UK and EU to “go further and faster on defence” before he visited the summit in Armenia. The Prime Minister is the first British leader to visit the country in over 25 years.
He also touted potential opportunities for British defence firms to compete for contracts under the loan scheme, and promised further sanctions later this week on Russian companies to disrupt military supply chains.
The UK and EU will discuss the parameters of the bloc’s loan for Ukraine in the coming weeks, No 10 said.
The Prime Minister said: “When the UK and the European Union work together, we all reap the benefits — and in these volatile times we need to go further and faster on defence to keep people safe.“
"That is why we are beginning negotiations with the EU to ensure Ukraine gets the equipment it needs to defend its freedom, while driving opportunities for British industry to play its full part.
“I will always act in our national interest: protecting our security, supporting our allies, and delivering jobs and stability at home.”
Sir Keir is expected to hold meetings on Monday with European leaders in the margins of the EPC, a strategic European forum formed in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that includes 47 EU states.
Defence talks with Brussels aimed at the UK joining the EU's 150 billion euro Security Action for Europe rearmament fund broke down at the end of last year, as the cost of entry was deemed to be too high.