STORY: :: Italy’s prime minister says EU states won’t

be directly involved in a G7 loan to Ukraine

:: June 15, 2024

:: Giorgia Meloni, Italian prime minister

”As I think you know, the loan of about $50 billion has already been announced and will be provided by the United States. Then Canada, the United Kingdom and probably Japan, subject of course to its constitutional limitations, have also announced that they will probably participate. At the moment, the European Nations are not participating in this loan, also considering the fact that the assets are all immobilised in Europe of course, and therefore Europe is already contributing by identifying the guarantee mechanism for the repayment of this loan, on the understanding that, as you know, this decision will have to go through the European Council and must be technically defined by the finance ministers of the European Union.”

During the first day of their meeting in southern Italy, the G7 nations agreed on an outline deal to provide $50 billion of loans for Ukraine backed by interest from frozen Russian assets – hailing the accord as a powerful signal of Western resolve.

In the summit statement, G7 leaders said they wanted to inflict further costs on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and also promised sanctions against entities that helped Russia circumvent restrictions on its oil trading by transporting it fraudulently.