The American Senate will unveil its new aid plan for Ukraine this week, its leader Chuck Schumer announced on Thursday, a few hours after the validation by the European Union of 50 billion euros in assistance to kyiv. “We plan to publish the entire text (…) tomorrow and no later than Sunday,” declared the Democratic leader from the hemicycle. He said he hoped for a first vote on the text on Wednesday “at the latest”.
American aid in exchange for a tougher migration policy
The American Congress has been struggling for several months over a package of $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, insistently demanded by President Joe Biden and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. But almost two years after the start of a bogged-down war — and more than $110 billion already released by Congress — Republicans, in particular, began to find the bill too high.
They condition their support for this new envelope on a drastic tightening of American migration policy, an issue on which negotiations continue. To be adopted, this envelope would have to be adopted in the Senate, then in the House of Representatives. The leader of this chamber, Mike Johnson, warned that as it stands, any vote on new funding for aid to Ukraine as well as for strengthening the border with Mexico was “stillborn”.
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President Joe Biden, who is struggling to get this package adopted, called the president of the European Commission to thank the EU for having validated assistance of 50 billion euros to Kiev, the White House said on Thursday. Joe Biden thanked Ursula von der Leyen “and the European Union for this important financial envelope (…) which will do a lot to help Ukraine as it continues to fight against Russian aggression”, indicated to the press a spokesperson for the American executive, John Kirby.
European leaders reached an agreement Thursday on aid of 50 billion euros for Ukraine until then blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an announcement immediately hailed by kyiv as a “common victory” over Russia. It is also a signal sent to the United States, where a new budget envelope for Ukraine is currently blocked in Congress. “I hope that (this) will help make things easier” so that Joe Biden can push through his aid plan for this country at war, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.