Zelensky-von der Leyen meeting confirms Ukraine must reform to unlock more money
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BRUSSELS, Belgium — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen doubled down on efforts to persuade Ukraine to fulfil reforms during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly during the night of Sept. 22.
Zelensky flagged a $27 billion hole in Kyiv's finances for 2026, and the EU's 90 billion euro ($103 billion) funding loan is only designed to cover two-thirds of Ukraine's total financial needs until the end of 2027.
That funding is tied to conditions agreed with Kyiv that directly link disbursements to the carrying out of a range of reforms intended to improve the rule of law and economy, and to prepare Ukraine for eventual EU membership.
The meeting, which was characterized as "tense" by Bloomberg, included not just the EU expressing its wish to see continued reforms, but also the Ukrainians expressing outrage over EU countries' decision that day to remove sanctions from two Russian oligarchs.
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Except for a $9 billion contribution from Norway for 2027, no other key allies have stepped in with contributions to bridge the hole in Ukraine's budget, despite requests from EU and Ukrainian politicians to do so.
And while Ukraine has not formally requested to frontload EU payments scheduled for 2027, already in 2026, Zelensky spoke in favor of that approach.
However, that would mean the EU dropping the timetable of reform requirements, and Brussels is increasingly exasperated with Ukraine's slow-walking on several key reforms.
The latest of these is a law to protect Ukraine's minorities, which was required by Hungary in order for it to drop its objections to advancing Kyiv's EU accession process.
Ukraine and Hungary agreed in principle that this would happen in July, and three EU officials have confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the draft text of the law is ready and supported by both Brussels and Budapest — it just needs to be introduced to Ukrainian parliament.
The previous week, EU Commissioners for the Economy and Enlargement, Valdis Dombrovskis and Marta Kos, wrote to the parliament to remind that they could unlock 20 billion euros ($23 billion) of support, simply by voting through a list of pre-agreed reforms. They even attached the list as an annex.
And von der Leyen wrote on social media following her meeting with Zelensky that there remains 37 billion euros ($42 billion) of support available this calendar year.
Three billlion euros ($3.4 billion) of that is set to be greenlighted already on Sept. 23, owing to Ukraine's successful adoption of several other reforms.
