Advisory Council: Dutch support to Ukraine remains necessary

Advisory Council: Dutch support to Ukraine remains necessary

Dutch support to Ukraine remains “inevitably necessary and urgent.” The Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV) wrote this on Thursday in an opinion at the request of the House of Representatives. According to the advisory body to the cabinet and parliament, the Netherlands must prepare for different scenarios for the war in Ukraine, because the threat from Russia is increasing. For example, the AIV believes that additional money should be allocated to Defense on a structural basis and that money should be made available for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The AIV notes that there is less consensus in the West about aid to Ukraine. Elections will take place in the EU and the US later this year, which may have consequences for support for Ukraine. It is already known that American presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to stop the billions in aid.

The Netherlands recently established a budget of 102 million euros for support to Ukraine. This budget is for the first four months of 2024. In total, the European Union decided, during a meeting of the European Council in February, to support Ukraine with a budget of 50 billion euros over the next three years.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Netherlands has been among the leaders when it comes to military, diplomatic and financial support for the government in Kyiv. According to the AIV, a new government must continue this aid to Ukraine. The winner of the elections, the PVV, is against financially supporting Ukraine. The party is in direct opposition to the VVD, with which it has negotiated a new cabinet in recent weeks, and which is one of the main advocates for Dutch aid to Ukraine.

Welcome to this blog

This blog will follow NRC the war in Ukraine and the developments related to it. Read our previous blog here.