EU to Press TV: Despite bankruptcy, will continue supplying arms to Kiev

The European Union will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine in the war against Russia, bloc officials told Press TV on Tuesday, despite business bankruptcies in European countries hitting the highest level in years.

In response to a question from Press TV correspondent Jerome Hughes in the Belgian capital Brussels on Tuesday, the EU’s foreign policy spokesperson Peter Stano said the bloc will continue to support Kiev “as long as it gets”, downplaying concerns regarding the rapidly exacerbating cost-of-living crisis in Europe.

On what the EU authorities are doing to support business firms in Europe to withstand the pressure of bankruptcies, EU officials told the Press TV correspondent they will “get back” to him.

In the second quarter of 2023, the number of bankruptcy declarations of EU businesses continued to surge to a record high, according to official EU data released last week.

Compared with the previous quarter, the number of bankruptcies was up by 8.4 percent and thus reached the highest level since the start of the data collection in 2015, the report stated.

“Looking specifically at bankruptcies by activity, all sectors of the economy registered increases in the number of bankruptcies in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the previous quarter,” said the report published by Eurostat.

“Accommodation and food services (+23.9%), transportation and storage (+15.2%), and education, health and social activities (+10.1%) were the sectors with the highest increases in the number of bankruptcies in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the previous quarter.”

A shopkeeper in Brussels, Bridi Said, speaking to the Press TV correspondent said he was struggling to pay rent for his shop amid soaring inflation and depleting revenues, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

EU leaders come under pressure to change their Ukraine war policy

Calls for peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine overshadow a summit of leaders from the EU.

According to experts, the EU sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine have backfired.

EU countries continue to send lethal weapons worth billions of euros to Kiev despite growing resentment and protests at home over worsening economic conditions.

European Union disbursed another tranche of €1.5 billion in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine this week, despite warnings from Russia not to fuel the flames of war.

“We are supporting Ukraine in its efforts to repair, recover and keep the state running. Today we paid a new €1.5 billion to Ukraine,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

EC president pledged more aid to Ukraine.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic was quoted as saying in an interview that the Ukraine conflict “has crushed the European economy.”

“One of the points he made is that the war in Ukraine, the war against Russia led by NATO, has crushed the European economy,” said former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a Twitter (X) post on Monday while sharing a preview of his interview with the Serbian president.

“The destruction of Nord Stream by the Biden administration, either directly or through proxies, is killing the German economy,” he added, noting that the Balkan leader shared an “interesting perspective” on what is happening in Ukraine, given that his own country was bombed by NATO in 1999.

Meanwhile, business insiders predict rising unemployment in the EU as inevitable, mounting added pressure on the already-strained EU social welfare systems.

Economists are forecasting that an unprecedented economic crisis could be in store for the EU member states, worse than the cost-of-living crisis in past years.

In the month of June, according to the Belgian government's statistics office, a total of 1,092 businesses failed in the EU capital Brussels alone.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk