Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has demanded 7 billion euros from the European Union’s next seven-year budget to help cover rising defence spending and the collapse of trade with Russia, intensifying a debate over how the bloc should share the costs of its eastern flank’s security.
Kulbergs told POLITICO that the money should come from a proposed new Competitiveness Fund within the EU’s 2028-2034 budget. The sum would cover nearly half of Latvia’s projected 15.1 billion euro defence bill over the seven-year period and would be allocated on top of other funding already earmarked for the country.
Borrowing to defend Europe
Kulbergs argued that Latvia deserves special consideration because it is borrowing heavily to provide security for nations much farther from the front line. “We are getting our budget deficit to the maximum, and from that debt we are paying the defence of the whole of Europe,” he said at the government chancellery in Riga.
He pointed out that much of Latvia’s military spending flows back to wealthier Western European economies through arms purchases from Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. “We fuel their economies,” he added. Latvia has been one of the EU’s strongest advocates of sanctions on Moscow and has systematically dismantled trade, transport and energy links with Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Election pressure mounts
The demand comes at a sensitive moment ahead of Latvia’s October 3 national election. Opposition politician Ainars Slesers, whose party sits with the far-right Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, has argued that Riga should demand compensation when backing EU sanctions on Russia. Slesers condemned Moscow’s invasion but said Latvia cannot absorb the costs indefinitely.
“We are losing money. We are talking about how to support Ukraine, but we are a victim,” Slesers told POLITICO at his campaign headquarters in Riga. He said Latvia should receive support in return when sanctions come up for renewal, though he stopped short of threatening a veto.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has proposed substantially increasing EU-level defence funding in the 2028-2034 budget, including a 125.2 billion euro security, defence industry and space pot in the Competitiveness Fund. However, that money is designed to finance projects across the bloc rather than provide Latvia with a pre-agreed allocation, and the entire budget remains subject to negotiations between EU governments and the European Parliament.
Visa ban and frozen assets
In the interview, Kulbergs also called for a total EU visa ban on Russian citizens, noting that EU countries granted more than 630,000 visas to Russians in 2025. “Are we nuts? We allow Russian military soldiers to be given visas, the ones killing Ukrainians on the field,” he said.
He urged EU countries to revisit sending Russia’s 210 billion euros in sovereign assets frozen in Europe to Ukraine, dismissing concerns that Moscow could challenge the move after the war. Kulbergs also rebuked European Council President Antonio Costa’s decision to open a communications channel with the Kremlin, calling it “a useless exercise” that would merely give Russia breathing time.
Sources: POLITICO; European Commission; S&P Global Ratings
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