Slovakia, Czech PMs Oppose Merz Plan for EU-Wide Ukraine Funding

The pushback from Fico and Babiš signals that the fiscal solidarity behind Ukraine funding is not uniformly shared across the bloc, which matters for how the 2027 financing gap gets closed. The split runs along familiar lines: governments facing domestic budget pressure are reluctant to commit to joint EU borrowing or guarantees. For markets, the relevant read-through is to EU-level issuance and to the durability of coordinated support, not to any single member's stance. Whether this opposition hardens into a blocking coalition, or remains a negotiating position, is the open question worth watching.